Fading Realities
by Just A Passing Through Writer
Summary: What would you do if you were forced to change your life? What would you do if that change also meant helping keep the world from changing as well? Lori finds herself stuck in a life she never wanted to begin with, the life of a hero. Now it's up to her to try and get things back to the way they were. Will she be able to do it? Will she keep her new life as a hero secret?
1. A Present Gone Wrong

_**A/N: Right, so first off let me say I don't know whether I'll continue this or not, I want to do a hero story badly, and am still upset about my failure with path of the soul, so please, let me know what you think and enjoy. This is inspired by the Kamen Rider series, just for a quick side note.**_

* * *

It was the early afternoon over the medium sized town of Royal Woods, Michigan. The sky was clear and the sun was shimmering. There were only a few hours before it would begin to set.

"What'd we have to come here for again Lori?" a lighter voice spoke from a teenage girl. She donned a light blue dress with white sunglasses resting on top of her head. Her long blonde hair ran over midway down her back.

"Like I said the last three times you asked, Leni," spoke the other girl. She wore a blue short sleeved shirt and brown shorts. Her shorter blonde hair reached her shoulders in length. "Bobby told me that he got me a very special present… but he wouldn't tell me what it was."

They were Leni and Lori Loud. The second and first oldest of the eleven siblings of the Loud family. They were seated in a somewhat full post office. They had been waiting there for over two hours now in what was meant to be a simple _'quick'_ side errand after doing the grocery shopping while on the way home.

"Why didn't Bobby just send it to our house?" Leni asked. It was confusing that her slightly older sister's long time boyfriend would send it to the local post office instead.

"He said he wanted it to be a surprise for me and not my family," Lori shrugged. There was the occasional opening of other family members' letters and packages, the many siblings tended to respect that kind of thing as long as there was nothing strange about said letters or packages.

But recently, she was having problems with her boyfriend. Ever since he had been forced to move away more or less, their relationship changed to long distance. They did get to see each other whenever they got the chance, but lately to the oldest Loud sibling, it was feeling like those chances were becoming fewer with each passing month.

Leni saw that disheartened face on her older sister. It had been happening a lot lately that their entire family had picked up on it. "Oh! Maybe there's something we can watch online," the low IQ Loud suggested.

"Leni, the internet's been about as entertaining as television lately. I hardly think there's gonna be anything on the web that'll be less boring then what is going on around us right now," Lori rolled her eyes at the suggestion. The newest video trend was people hunting down supposed monsters, for lack of a better word, or clues for said creatures. The eldest Loud sister could only tolerate so many paranoid people zooming in on shadows for such a short time before it got intolerably dull.

"Yeah, so we can watch the news instead," the fashion designer pulled out her cellphone. Royal Woods Media always streamed news coverage, even if it was mostly rerunning the same one all day.

" _Fine…_ " the oldest Loud sister sighed. It was the only thing they could really do right now. Lori's own phone battery died after an hour and a half into their wait. Leni smiled, after a few moments, she held the phone sideways for them both to see.

The headline text **'From Killer to Hero?'** ran across the bottom screen. The news reporter on screen, Betty Breaker, had a look of surprise as she read out the report.

"Today at 11:20am," the reporter began, "There was a large fire in an apartment complex that, according to investigators, appeared to be natural. But the flames started in such a way that it looked like it was made to trap everyone inside on purpose."

Footage of a burning building was shown. It had been taken from a cellphone camera of a passerby, presumably the same one that called emergency services.

"The first two floors of the apartment were like a trap. No one could leave those floors," the reporter continued, "But apparently, a man currently under suspicion of murder in the first degree, was hiding inside the complex. We have an interview with one of the families now."

The footage cut to a small family of three. A six year old girl stood in the middle of her parents.

"We weren't able to go anywhere. The staircases were broken down and the fire escapes were behind an ocean of flames…" the wife said, seeming to be more in dismay about her scorched hair than her near-death experience in a fire.

"There are two fire extinguishers in each floor's hallway, but no one could get to either of them," the young man continued. The life-threatening survival had stressed him out. "Then this twig of a man came out of nowhere from the floor above ours and cleared the way to the fire escape for us all."

"And you're sure this was Kess Ando?" the report requested, and he turned the microphone back toward them.

"No doubt about it. He had the dozen wedding rings on," the husband nodded. Kess was at one point a great marriage lawyer. He tended to take the wedding ring from whoever hired him as a personal reward, in trade of reducing their legal fees. But he was the primary suspect in the murder of his wife and went missing immediately after questioning, after claiming he was innocent.

"But dad, what about the monster?" the young girl suddenly chimed up after tugging on her fathers shirt, the camera aiming down toward her.

"Honey, please, not now," the father insisted that she should remain quiet.

"She was downstairs playing with her friends when the fire began… she has a big imagination," the mother added dismissively. The reporter gained a small smile on his face as he crouched down to her height.

"Why don't you tell us about the monster? People have been talking about some of them lately," the report brought the microphone down to the child, though as far as they cared, they were just indulging a young girl's fantasy.

"Okay, Leni, you can turn it off now," Lori yawned, brushing aside her younger sister's hand holding the phone.

"Come on, Lori, they'll call you when they have the package," Leni insisted, shoving the phone back up for them to watch the news once more. Lori sighed, starting to get irritated now with how long they were being forced to wait.

"It was burning and trying to get into the basement! It tried to get me when it saw me…" the young girl looked nervous at first, but she grew a smile shortly after. "Then the ring man jumped from the fire in the stairs and punched it! He cracked its face and made it run. I told him mommy and daddy could fix his burned hand, but he left after he got me and my friends outside…"

"Lori Loud! We found your package!" the post office worker's voice stopped the two sisters from listening further.

" _ **Finally!**_ " Lori hopped up excitedly. She was surprised to see the large box on the counter. It made her more confused by what her boyfriend could have possibly sent her.

" _Something feels wrong…_ " Leni muttered to herself, looking back at her phone. She tried to ignore the feeling and just got up, going over to her sisters side. "Did Bobby send you clothes?"

Lori signed a few things on a paper before sliding the slip back to the worker, letting him take leave after. "I don't know, but it feels a lot heavier than clothes…" she tried to pick up the box. It caught her by surprise with its weight. "I'll find out when we get home. Come on, let's get out of here," the eldest Loud smiled.

Leni was more than glad to get out of this place. Both of them headed back to their family van so they could head home with the package.

* * *

"I can't believe you're letting me drive! You never let me drive when we go out," Leni exclaimed. She was the one on the driver's seat of Vanzilla. Lori reached over from the passenger seat and made her younger sister focus back on the road by grabbing her head. She had the package resting on her lap.

"You're doing a lot better ever since Lincoln found you that teacher," the oldest Loud sibling smiled. The only male sibling in the large family had found a tutor capable of working around a lot of tough problems, and they were perfect at working with Leni's lacking intelligence.

While Leni drove, Lori began to work on opening the package, having to tear off the top. With how tightly it was wrapped up with tape on the sides, it was almost like Bobby had been afraid of a postal service worker stealing the contents inside and had done everything he could to keep it closed, short of wrapping it up with chains.

"A note?" the oldest Loud sibling saw a large letter stuck to part of the box lid she tore off. She knew it was from her boyfriend, though it was slightly torn at the bottom from Lori's careless ravaging of the cardboard box it had been taped to the top of from the inside.

" _Ohh_ , what's it say?" Leni leaned over to peek at it. Lori just refocused her head back on the road once again.

"Well, the last third of the note's in too many pieces to put back together now… I'll read it. You just focus on driving," Lori said. She felt bad now for the way she impatiently opened it, but there was no going back on what was already done. She returned her focus on the note itself.

" _Hey, babe, I was working at a construction site when this fell out of the wall of a very old building we were tearing down. I have no idea what it was, but my boss didn't care about it and I knew it wasn't the type of thing Ronnie Anne would like. So, I figured you would want it as a good luck charm and it…_ " Lori stopped reading it aloud after that, since the note was torn apart after that, and so the next sentence was chopped in half.

"What is it?" Leni leaned over. Lori groaned, grabbing the steering wheel with one hand to center them back into their lane and shoving Leni's face back to refocus once more.

"Wait until we reach a stop sign!" the oldest Loud sister barked. However, when she looked back into the box, the items inside confused her. She pulled out a medium sized wooden box. It looked like something a grandparent would stash candy in for their grandkids when they visited. " _It's beautiful…_ this was in a wall?" Lori chirped. The box had a golden flourish to the edges. It was smooth and in pristine condition. Someone had taken great care when making it, and even greater care with preserving it.

"Why don't you open it?" Leni asked.

Her older sister blinked. It had not even occurred to her that there might be something else inside. She just assumed Bobby had sent her a very decorative jewelry box. The oldest Loud sister was a little nervous to open it for an unknown reason. Lori nonetheless released the latch and lifted up the lid. The contents inside the wooden box confused her.

"Is it jewelry?" Leni asked. Inside the box were four various shaped jewels, they all were colorless, each one was resting snugly in a luxurious cushion.

"I think they aren't real… they kind of look like kids' toys," Lori replied. Each one was shaped in specific three dimensional styles, like a square, a diamond, a triangle and a sphere. It confused her more than anything. The oldest Loud picked up the colorless ball. She noticed that each of the shapes had grooves in them. It was like they were meant to be opened, but not by human hands.

"Good luck charms… Bobby's trying too hard to find gifts for me lately," Lori lightly giggled, finding the effort adorable at least. However, she noticed that one end of the pillow was unevenly sat up. She wondered if there was even more hidden presents within the box that Bobby forgot to mention.

" _Oh no…_ does that mean you two are about to break up?" Leni worriedly questioned. Her oldest sister was about to order her younger sibling to focus on the road again, but realized they had come to a stop in a gas station to refuel. Lori figured this was safer than risking getting into a wreck. Then what she said finally registered.

"What? _N-_ no! What makes you think that?" Lori gawked in surprise, while trying to remove the pillow holding the various shaped items.

"Because people start sending more gifts before they break up… Like what happened to Lucy with her boyfriend last month," Leni stated. Despite her very low IQ, she made a good point. Now the oldest Loud sister was anxious on the matter. Slowly, Lori removed the pillow. Under it, she found a short blue crystal.

" _Oh my gosh…_ " Lori gasped. It was jagged and only about the size to fit into her palm. She tried to reach for it, picking it up gently with her hand. " **Ow!** " the oldest Loud sibling dropped the gem back into the box when a sharp pain shot out from her hand, the gem landing on the pillow had the small stain of blood mixing with its blue shine.

"Lori, what happened?!" Leni gasped in worry, reaching over to see what happened to her older sister's hand.

"I think it cut me… it's not bad, don't worry," Lori reassured. It was simply a cut across her palm, and a few small drops of blood struggled to leak out of it.

"You wait here. I'll go inside and get something to treat it," Leni ordered. Before her older sister could argue, the fashion designer hopped out of Vanzilla.

"Got a feeling Bobby didn't know about that extra one…" the eldest sighed, reaching over and stuffing the items all back in their fancy box, letting the gem rest on the pillow with the other odd items before closing it back.

Her pupils then shrank when she looked back to her palm. The small amount of blood had turned blue right before her eyes. The scratch itself looked to be cracking slightly around where the cut itself was, like her hand had been made of glass.

" _Uhh…_ Okay, maybe this _ **IS**_ bad… I need to show this to Lisa…" Lori muttered to herself. Her second youngest sister would be a lot more expedite with treating her, compared to waiting in a hospital emergency room, where she knew she would get sick from another ill person there. The teenager opened the van's glove compartment and found a roll of gauze among the many other random items inside. She began to use it to wrap up her hand.

" _Some good luck charm…_ " Lori murmured. A cold chilling feeling suddenly hit her from nowhere, she was having goose-bumps running through her body, she had no idea why at all since it was a normal hot spring day. Lori could then see Leni coming back with a small first aid kit in her hand.

* * *

Lori was relieved to have gotten away without letting Leni see her injury. She'd claimed she had found a first aid kit in the trunk of the family van. The oldest Loud siblings were now back home, and Lori was letting her younger sister get the groceries from the car. She herself was trying to head straight upstairs.

"Lori!" a high-pitched squeal sounded. Of course, things were never that simple in the large home.

"What is it, Lola?" Lori stood at the first step as she eyed one of the third-youngest twins who was dressed like a princess.

"Lana hid my doll somewhere and I can't find it! Can you help?" Lola requested. This was nothing unusual. The twins always did stuff like this to each other.

"Check the back of the freezer. You know she likes to hide them in places you hate, like the cold," the oldest Loud sister. She let the girl in pink run off in a hurry to save her doll from a frozen fate. Lori sighed in relief before continuing upstairs.

* * *

"Oh, welcome back, honey! Did everything go well?" the Loud family mother, Rita, greeted her oldest child. She ran into her after having gathered the laundry from upstairs.

" _Yyyyeah_ , mom. The post office was a nightmare though…" Lori held the decorative wooden box under her arm, with her wounded palm as a way to hide the injury.

"Wow, that looks really pretty. Is that the gift Bobby sent you?" Rita asked. She always found her daughter's relationship cute, but far from perfect. She had shared all the advice she could already to help her eldest's relationship with Bobby, she was uncertain if she had been actually helpful.

"Yeah. He found it at a construction site. Some weirdo hid it inside a wall," Lori stated. She was happy with the gift for the most part, aside from the strange injury she had received because of it. "Where's everybody?" she tried to not dwell on the topic. She hoped Lisa was home. The Loud house being quiet at any time of the day was a concerning thing most of the time.

"Well, Lucy is taking a nap, so is Lily. Lynn is at football practice, Luan is in the garage repainting her props, Luna is practicing with that girl Sam at her place, and Lincoln is hanging out with Clyde. Lola, Lana and Lisa are around here somewhere," Rita answered to the best of her ability. Keeping up with eleven children was a challenge, no matter how many years passed or how much they grew.

"Thanks, mom. I want to show Lisa this," Lori gave a thankful smile, not wasting any time heading to the younger children's room.

"Okay dear, have fun!" Rita hummed before continuing down the stairs with the laundry basket under her arm, not paying much attention to her oldest child's slightly strange behavior.

* * *

Once she arrived to the room shared by Lola, Lana and Lisa. Lori knocked on the open door. Lisa was working away at her computer. The youngest sister, Lily, used to share this room as well, but she was moved into Lincoln's room to help her rest easier, since being with their only brother helped the infant sleep better.

"I'm a little busy at the moment, apologies," Lisa responded. She was a child prodigy with her high intelligence and a PhD, although she had her issues, mostly emotional, due to essentially being a child with an adult mind.

Lori continued into the room. "Lisa, please. It's important. I got hurt and _I…_ I've been feeling weird ever since."

This was enough to make the child genius refocus her gaze to her oldest sister. "You're requesting a private examination?" Lisa asked. The short blonde-haired woman nodded as she rested the wooden box down on the desk before showing her bandaged palm.

"I want to know if it's anything to be afraid about," Lori claimed. The child prodigy took a moment before she got up and went to the door to close it as well as lock it.

"Take a seat on the bed," the child genius said, letting Lori get comfortable while she went to retrieve a stool to stand on, so she could perform the examination, without having to ask her to stress her back by bending constantly during the exam.

" _Do…_ do you really need all those?" Lori nervously stuttered as she watched her second youngest sister bringing out several tools on a tray. She never took Lisa for a surgeon, but was more afraid of what those tools had been used on prior.

"These are common instruments held in any medical office. The only difference is I'd rather be prepared for anything due to your very vague description of your symptoms," Lisa rested the tray with the tools down on the bed before hopping up onto her stool. "Now, tell me your symptoms and explain how this transpired," Lisa slipped on a pair of rubber gloves that were far bigger than her hands.

"I feel scared for no reason and really cold… it started a minute after I got cut by that dumb jewel. It's in the present Bobby sent me," Lori explained to the best of her recollection. She doubted the coincidence of this happening right after she was cut was very unlikely.

"Well, that rules out pregnancy," Lisa slightly smirked as she was working on removing the gauze from around her oldest sister's hand.

"Hahah… very funny," Lori rolled her eyes. "I'm worried that it's worse than a cut, because… well, you'll see."

Which Lisa did. When the last of the gauze was removed, her eyes shrank at the sight of the odd damage. "...And you're certain that Luan isn't simply pranking you and thus me by proxy?" she questioned, looking at the blue wound. Its many cracks running around it like it was breaking the hand the same way one would break a mirror.

"Not unless she has a part time job in the post office," Lori shook her head. She watched as Lisa took a small scalpel and a weird instrument that looked like a form of even thicker tweezers.

" _Wh-_ what are those for?" Lori fearfully squeaked, looking ready to run for her life at the signs of the knife.

"There's something embedded within your hand and I must dissect your limb to retrieve it," Lisa declared, understanding her practical second mother's fear.

"And you can't just use **_NORMAL_** tweezers or something?" Lori gulped, watching her second youngest sister bring the scalpel to the cut mark.

"One of these are tweezers, but they're meant for surgical use… I can't give you a confident diagnosis without examining the object," Lisa adjusted her glasses with her free hand. She looked up to her oldest sister. "So, do I have your permission?"

"Alright, alright…" Lori knew Lisa wanted to simply do everything to help, despite her usual straight monotone voice implying otherwise. The blonde teenager closed her eyes, trying to not watch.

Lisa breathed a sigh to try and keep calm as she began to widen the cut with the scalpel. As the young girl did so, a little more blue blood came out. The wound gained several newer cracks to it as well. "This is certainly interesting…" the child super genius was confused. She put the scalpel down on the tray.

"Is it over yet?" Lori fearfully asked, resisting the stinging pain in her arm. Lisa reached her tweezers in and grabbed onto the embedded item in question, pulling it out with a simple tug.

"Yes, it's… _over…?_ " Lisa went wide eyed. She saw a crystal fragment in the tweezers. It looked to be half organic as if the fragment had grown inside of Loris injury.

"Lisa?"

" _Oh!_ Apologies, I won't be able to give you a definitive diagnosis without examining the item," Lisa snapped out from her daze, putting the shard aside on the tray before she started to treat the injury, cleaning her hand with peroxide.

"Should I be worried?" the oldest Loud sister asked.

"No, you just need to take it easy for now," Lisa stated while she re-wrapped the hand with gauze. "If any other symptoms emerge, you come back to me immediately. Understand? Otherwise we'll check later tonight with a follow up to see if your hand has healed, as well as to see if your blood has returned to its normal color."

" _Uh…_ okay…" Lori nodded, agreeing without any argument. That seriousness in Lisa's eyes concerned her. But Lisa was a lot smarter than the rest of the siblings and herself thought. There was no reason to doubt her. "The thing that cut me's still in the box over there," the oldest Loud pointed with her free hand.

"Really? That'll be quite helpful," Lisa sounded glad to hear that. Once the bandaging was done, she hopped off the stool and took her tray over to the nearby fold out table where she normally ran her tests, at least the ones that didn't require a person to test on.

"Thanks, Lisa. I owe you," Lori said as she held her now treated hand. She felt better already just having been treated.

"Don't think highly of it. I know you'd do the same for me if I obtained a wound of any sort," Lisa insisted. Lori surprised her by giving her a tight hug, almost squishing her.

"I love you, Lisa. I'll make sure you get your favorite for dinner tonight," the oldest Loud smiled. Lisa could not resist gaining a smile across her face either.

"Thank you, Lori," the prodigy hummed with glee as the hug ended.

"Call me when you find out what it is," Lori requested, as she left the room. Now alone in the room, Lisa cast a weary glance to the chest beside her that her oldest sister had brought in with her.

"The odds are astronomically impossible… but it appears fate is an unpredictable factor," the young genius opened the gift Bobby had sent Lori. Lisa stared at the crystal that had cut her oldest sister for a minute.

 _"I actually have a genuine sample of it… a pure solid sample… The government may have denied my request for the material, but my family never lets me down,"_ Lisa became excited as she used a pair of clamps from her many tools to grab the crystal and take it out from the box inside. She was ready to spend all night checking over this and the shard she had taken out from Lori as well. She just hoped this really was a good thing.

 _ **"I hope I was able to extract it from Lori in time as well..."**_


	2. Information

"Man, that movie was a letdown…" spoke Lincoln Loud, the middle sibling of the Loud family. His white-haired head rested on his hand, with his elbow snug on the table, while he half-heartedly ate his onion rings.

"I told you flipping a coin to decide on a movie was a bad idea," Clyde McBride spoke up as he brought over his tray of food. The two childhood best friends had just arrived at a grease lease fast food joint, and it was the only that had not been swamped by tens of customers at the moment. It was a disappointing hour and a half they had wasted in a cold movie theatre.

"Sorry, they just had two really great things playing. You know going to the movies twice in one week is boring," Lincoln replied. They never liked doing the same thing over and over, though with Lincoln having a giant family and Clyde a lone child with two fathers, they did occasionally have problems they needed to help each other solve. Though normally it was Lincoln that needed the help, more often than not.

"Don't worry about it. Space Bash'll be online in a week tops. We can watch it there," Clyde took a bite out of his burger.

"Point taken," Lincoln nodded. They both knew well enough that going to the theaters nowadays was more novelty than anything, but it was still usually a lot of fun.

"Mmhm…" Clyde nodded as well, then swallowed that piece of burger. "My dads are really worried lately."

"What about?" Lincoln raised an eyebrow. He always knew his childhood buddy's parents usually were alright, or at least they never spoke about any problems to be worried about if they ever had any.

"It's all the weird things going on lately," Clyde spoke, "They're scared that something bad is gonna happen… they don't know what to believe either."

"They believe those monster rumors?" Lincoln asked, with an unsure expression.

"Yep," he nodded. All these accidents happening across Royal Woods in the last two months were making people suspicious that the news was covering the truth up, including one of Clyde's parents, the other might not entirely agree but it did little to reduce their fear.

Lincoln was uncertain what to say. There were too many accidents happening that the rumors couldn't be labelled entirely as a myth or coincidence, but he was far from confident in believing that monsters were real.

Clyde raised an eyebrow when he saw someone approaching behind his friend. Their thick slim white boots clacked against the tiled floor with each step.

"Lincoln Loud?" a sharp upbeat toned voice caught the boy's attention. Lincoln turned around in his seat to look at the man.

" _Uh…_ Yeah?" Lincoln nervously answered the tall man. He had messy black hair, and a white suit with a black vest underneath it. A bright grey colored feathered boa was wrapped around his neck and resting on his shoulder.

"I'm Agent Kurutta, I work for the government. Sorry to bother you out of the blue like this, but I need your help with something," Kurutta grinned. That toothy smile of his was terrifying, his teeth were as sharp as a shark's. Like he had filed them into a sharper style, the same way one would do to dogs for a fight.

"Do you have a badge?" Clyde chimed up. Most people working for the government at least had a type of proof to show so people could trust them.

"They're still designing those for my branch… but I'm not here to ask you on a special mission or anything," the young man took a seat beside the two. He reached into his suits pocket and pulled out a tiny unmarked palm sized box. "I need you to take this to Lisa Loud for me," he rested it on the table in front of the Loud boy. Clyde looked uncertain about this.

"What is it?" Lincoln raised an eyebrow, picking up the tiny box. He wanted to check inside but felt that would be rude to do if it was Lisa's property.

"A USB stick. Little Lisa's been bugging my boss for about two months straight now for… well, it's classified information. But my point is that we're fulfilling that request now," the bizarre man explained, though it was clear that even he did not understand his superior's orders fully, as if the explanation just confused him to the point that he agreed without retaining any of the knowledge.

"Lisa asked the government for whatever's in this? Huh," Lincoln couldn't be surprised. Lisa having contact with the government was nothing unusual to him, or their family as a whole. Lisa probably had collaborated with the government on several things, most of which were kept secret from the rest of the Loud family " _I…_ I don't know though… What if it's a virus and you're just some creepy crazy dude?"

Kurutta had a good laugh and smacked the Loud boy's back quite hard. "Ah, you kids are hilarious… I'll give you two hundred dollars if you do this for me."

" **What?**!" Clyde gawked. Lincoln was thrown into a pit of discomfort. The middle Loud sibling put the tiny box back on the table in front of the man.

"Sorry, but I don't think it's safe," the bucktoothed preteen apologized, wanting to get back to eating his food.

"The junk on that USB is stuff that no one knows about beyond my department and your little sister… Three hundred dollars," Kurutta persisted, increasing the offer for his requested cooperation.

"Why can't you just give it to her yourself?" Lincoln wondered. Clyde remained quiet since his friend seemed to be doing fine on his own in this conversation, that and he was shocked at the money offer.

"Because she really hates my work ethic… Four hundred," Kurutta continued with his price raising like he was at a form of worker auction.

Lincoln felt increasingly uneasy with each raise of the offer. "You sure don't seem like the scientist type…"

"Because I'm not. I'm the type that gets things for the scientist types… Four hundred and fifty. Final offer," Kurutta grinned those sharp teeth of his again.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to play messenger… talking to strangers is one thing. Taking money from them is a bigger problem," Lincoln looked to his best friend, who he could tell was giving him a look as if asking whether or not he was insane.

"I'm not asking you to come with me to a rent by the minute motel," Kurutta continued, "I just want you to give Lisa the USB in that box, and a message… Five hundred."

The bucktoothed Loud raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said the last one was your final offer."

"I suck at haggling," the government agent shrugged. He pulled out his wallet and took out the five hundred dollars. A large wad of twenty-dollar bills held together in a clip. He threw it on the table beside the tiny box the USB was stored in.

" _Fine…_ " Lincoln sighed. At this point he was just sick of the guy's presence, and there obviously was no way to simply shoo him away. He took the cash and put it away in his pocket, making a mental note to find a hiding spot somewhere at home for it.

"What's the message anyway?" Clyde asked, once the shock wore off. The weirdly dressed man stood up from his seat.

"My boss wants you to tell Lisa, _'That this might be your only chance'_. Thanks for making my work a lot easier," Kurutta hummed. He patted Lincoln's shoulder and began to leave the fast food joint as if he couldn't get out of there fast enough.

"Dude… what do you plan on doing with all that money?" Clyde couldn't help but ask. He wondered if Lincoln would feel safe with spending even some of it.

"One thing at a time, Clyde… I gotta get this to Lisa," the peacekeeper of the Loud family stood up, taking the tiny box and beginning to leave as well so he could get straight home. He wished to be done with this delivery very soon, unwilling to carry this shady business on his shoulders for long. He knew Lisa was smart enough to be safe when it came to this type of thing

"Wait! You left me with the bill!" Clyde shouted, but by then his friend was already out the door. He groaned, holding his head. "He'll pay me back, right?… that Kuru guy was a freak though," the spectacle wearing boy sighed, deciding to just enjoy the extra food his friend had at least left him.

* * *

Lori was in a strange position. She had spent the last two hours treating the day as normal. She was in her and Leni's bedroom seated on her bed. Lori looked at her injured palm. It wasn't getting any better. The blood was not going back to normal and the cracks in her hands were no better. She knew it took time for wounds to heal, but a simple cut should be healing a lot faster than that.

Lori let out a long sigh. There was no way of secretly walking around with the wound wrapped in the bandage either. As soon as one sibling was sick or injured, the rest took care of that sibling, no matter how small the issue was. That was the problem of having a large caring family, and she hated being the meddled instead of the meddler.

"…That's it!" Lori chirped to herself. An idea popped into her head. She hopped up and ran straight to her closet, opening it up and starting to rummage through the bottom of the piles of clothes that laid there in desperate need of a cleanup.

"Come on, where's the stuff I had from my emo phase…?" the oldest Loud sibling murmured. One after another, different pieces of clothing were thrown out across the floor behind her.

Lori huffed when she reached the bottom of the old clothes pile. She was starting to think that she might have stored them in the attic, she looked up, and she found a small plastic bin on top of the closet shelf.

"There it is!" Lori got up, eagerly taking the small tub from the shelf and taking the lid off. There was odd clothing inside the box that mainly consisted of all black, some metallic wristbands, as well as jewelry that Lucy would love to be offered.

When Lori was about thirteen, she hit a phase in her life where she had fallen into a gloomy mood so much so that she fit into the emo crowd. She got out of it as relatively fast as she got into it, since it turned out to be too boring for her. Lori had planned on saving most of this clothing as emergency presents for Lucy, though the eldest Loud could get used to one part being missing.

Lori reached into the box with her unhurt hand and took out one solid black leather glove. "This'll work wonders… but I need to make you look more… matching, with my clothes," she put the hand gripping the glove on her chin. It would fit almost fine, but she did not think it would match her present attire the way it was now. There was no way she was going back to her short-lived emo period, she already had seen Lincoln wind up that way once.

Lori's eyes then focused on a pair of Leni's tailoring shears and various fabrics laid out on a desk. "That'll do," the oldest Loud sibling went and took the large scissors, and she began to cut some of the fingers off the leather glove. " _Aaand_ perfect!" the eldest Loud hummed, slipping the glove onto her hurt hand. The glove now fit just fine, though the ring pinkie and thumb parts of the glove had been snipped off in her modifications of the clothing.

"Hope I don't have to wear you for long," Lori spoke to herself, looking at her now gloved hand. It covered all traces of the injury perfectly. She sighed, looking over the mess she had made during her hurried search.

"I'll visit Lisa for the checkup later," Lori decided to ignore this for now, thinking her second youngest sister had better things to do right now and that the follow up exam could wait until later tonight.

"Lori? You okay in there?" Luan chimed up from the other side of the closed door. She heard the noise from her oldest sister's searching.

" _Uuuh_ yeah! Sorry," Lori nervously looked at the large self-created mess she now stood in.

"Well, dad wants you to help make dinner because everyone's coming home soon!" Luan informed her oldest sister through the door. Her humming sounded from the other side of that door.

"Thanks, Luan… oh, and please take the trap off from over the door when you go," Lori requested, calling back to her comedian of a sister.

"Aww," the bucktoothed girl groaned. It was just how predictable she was lately. " _You're no fun…_ "

Lori smirked, looking down at her now gloved hand. "I hope Lisa doesn't mind waiting," Lori rubbed her head, but she decided to ignore it for now as she left to go help their father get dinner ready.

* * *

 _"On a molecular level… this is beautiful… Organic and inorganic material interacting in perfect unison without any surgical or medical intervention…"_ Lisa had been viewing the shard she had taken out Lori's injury since the minute she was left with it, the shard being under her microscopes view currently. "I don't feel safe testing this on a live specimen, especially if my theories are correct…" she sighed. The large crystal that had originally cut Lori was now in a glass container that kept it tightly in place within the center, it was locked with the child genius having the only key.

"Lisa?" Lincoln sounded as he entered the room.

"Yes, Lincoln, what is it?" Lisa turned her head to him. She hoped he was not going to say that he had gained a strange injury similar to their oldest sisters.

"Is this a bad time? You look really wound up…" Lincoln asked. He sounded worried. Usually his second youngest sister got this way whenever she was stuck on a very complex part of her research no matter what it was.

"It's fine…" Lisa replied, "Do you wish to discuss something with me, or are you simply checking up on me?"

Her only brother came over and presented the tiny cardboard box, resting it on her desk. "Some weirdo government worker asked me to give you that."

"You'll find that most workers in government positions are weird… I've certainly learned that from my short experience with them," the auburn-haired girl gently laughed, opening the box and pulling out a USB stick. Its size was fairly small, but it surprised the genius.

"A one terabyte portable memory device? My, today has been quite successful for me," Lisa smiled, acting like this was nothing unusual, while believing it was nothing much. however, before she could plug it into her laptop, her brother took it from her hand.

"He also had a message for you from him and his boss," her bucktoothed brother added, still hesitant to hand this to her entirely.

"A message?" she tilted her head

"He said, 'this might be your only chance'. He was willing to do anything if it meant avoiding talking to you," Lincoln explained. After he delivered the message, the young genius suddenly looked quite annoyed. She took off her glasses, pinching the bridge of the nose with her fingers.

"It was Kurutta, correct? How much did he pay you?" Lisa asked her only brother. He was more surprised to see her look genuinely angry. Normally she could keep that straight face of hers in most situations.

"Too much… Is there something you need to tell me, Lisa?" Lincoln handed the USB stick back to Lisa. At least now he felt safe giving it to her, since she confirmed that this Kurutta guy actually did work for the government and knew her fully.

"Not that I'm aware… Kurutta is the most inane and incompetent agent I've ever had the displeasure of meeting," Lisa plugged the memory stick into her computer to let it begin loading the files.

"He told me you were asking them to give you this for two months now. If there's something going on Lisa, you know we can help," Lincoln stated. If it was trouble that she needed help dealing with, then everyone in their family could solve the issue, even if it was government related trouble.

"I'm gracious for your persistence in wanting to help keep everyone in our family happy, but for the time being, I don't think you can help me… You're losing half of your average sleep time at night as is, now that Lily shares your room," Lisa tried to turn the conversation into a lighter topic to avoid something classified. Even her brother could see this.

"Lily's fine. She just... hates her crib now," Lincoln let out a weary huff. But it was better for him to lose half of his sleep time than their baby sister being unable to sleep at all.

"Well, I appreciate your help, and I'm sorry you had to tolerate Kurutta's presence…" Lisa assured, feeling bad that her brother did have to put up with a lot for her sake.

"It's nothing. I'll come get you when dinners ready," Lincoln patted her back before he took leave, so he could go get cleaned up.

"Now if only they had specified which of the requests I had filed within these last two months were being fulfilled…" Lisa sighed. She had been bothering that department at the agency for a long time now for so many reasons, but they tended to all loop back to the same source. The child prodigy opened the USB device to view the documents on her computer.

" _Oh… my…_ " Lisa's eyes locked with the many video files, written documents and pictures. She was about to explode with excitement. "They're fulfilling… _**ALL**_ of the requests I have made within the last two months?" she was unable to believe this. Was Kurutta committing something illegal by giving her this much classified information? She had to stifle her excitement.

"I can learn about them further now… Maybe I can find a cure or treatment option for Lori, too…-! Lisa Loud, you need to keep your composure and hopes down… Reality is often far crueler than we wish," the young girl caught herself, not wanting to get hopeful in case she was far past wrong. She looked to the crystals that Lori had brought her, then back to the video files. It was going to be a long night ahead of her.

 _ **"With this much data, I should be able to find SOMETHING to help save Lori... Even if it means tracking down one of those creatures..."**_


	3. Unwanted Outcome

Lisa browsed through the many video files, trying to find the very first one. She had probably spent twenty minutes organizing them alone.

"I believe this is the first recording of their research…" she took a deep breath, not sure what she would be seeing, especially if the government agents were no longer holding back on sharing their classified information. " _Here goes nothing…_ " she mumbled before clicking the video, watching it load up on her laptop screen.

"I know this seems unprofessional, but this is more or less a celebration… today, our department was approved by the higher ups!" a blonde-haired man in his near forties explained. He was in a barren room all alone, aside from his computer and chair there was nothing else around. "I'm not much for parties, but now that my boss agrees that this is real, that means the entirety of national security and every other government official now agrees with me too!" he opened a champagne bottle, letting the cork go flying across the room.

"Enough of this nonsense," Lisa rolled her eyes as she skipped to the next video. If she wanted to watch someone get insanely drunk from partying, then she could go online to find a whole playlist of that.

"Day Zero-one of Project Fracture. I, Professor Oroka, am overseeing this research study for an indefinite amount of time," Oroka, the same man from the last video, spoke. That white lab coat of his shimmered brightly almost, the room was full of various gadgets and tools. There were far more than just medical instruments in the facility, some clearly were old or new.

"Since it's most likely only higher ups will be seeing these videos and I'm just documenting everything as they've requested, allow me to explain what Project Fracture does and what we research," Oroka began rummaging through the many cabinets. After a moment, he pulled out a small container that held a crystal fragment inside it.

" _…So, my fears were correct…_ " Lisa mumbled, looking to the stored crystal beside her. They looked very similar.

"Five years ago, an oddity appeared from thin air in the middle of an abandoned subway passage…" Oroka spoke, "Workers were down there doing a maintenance check to make sure things were safe, but unfortunately, they attracted something from the anomaly."

A small video appeared on the top left of the screen, showing video footage from a subway security camera. Lisa went wide eyed at what she saw. It was like the air itself had been broken like glass. The two workers who approached it could see several crystal fragments laying around. Then, a creature leapt through the opening.

The second youngest Loud sibling had no chance to look away as a mutated humanoid praying mantis hopped through the break in the air. With one quick swipe of both of its long blades that were protruding from its forearms, the workers were slaughtered without any chance of escape.

"We have no idea what this creature is… It has the basis form of an insect, but the distinct characteristics of a human. We call those air anomaly's fractures, but we have no idea what causes them," Oroka continued with the explanation. The research program was dubbed Project Fracture for that exact reason, on top of it shattering the worlds reality of what can only be described as, monsters. "There is one thing I had to note about this creature. The most noticeable thing about it, is neither its two basis forms, it is the third characteristic that was neither human, nor insect…"

He paused the footage just in time as the creature was about to hop back into the portal. It revealed its backside and upper back legs to be covered in those crystals like it had been injured once, and they had grown in place of the wounds. Lisa could not pull herself away from the screen as she watched intently.

"It was also part organic mineral. Unfortunately, the fracture closed, and one never appeared again... Until recently. After five years, in the last two months there have been four reported fractures. Three of these four fractures were reported in a small Michigan city called Royal Woods. My boss's declared that to be a point of interest for the breaks. That is all the information we have at present, we have began monitoring the city as a precaution just in case."

The video ended on the spot. Lisa feared the worst on that front.

"I can't believe my theories were correct…" the child prodigy huffed. She did not believe in these monsters or the supposed fractures at first, but when she researched them out of curiosity, she found a lot of common threads between the conspiracy theorists talking about them. This was far from ideal. She tried to focus on the task of saving Lori from a fate she did not even know about yet. The child genius clicked on the next video file.

"Day twenty-two of Project Fracture. For the last couple of weeks, we've been cataloging the monsters that appear. Some of them return through the fracture they originate from, while others… they do variously different things," Oroka claimed but he looked excited nonetheless. "These creatures… they are of all various species. They range from ocean life, bugs, plants, birds, animals. Yet the only thing they share is their humanoid body types, as well as the unknown minerals coating parts of their body."

Several pictures of multiple types of monsters were put up on screen, all of which matched the descriptions he'd given.

"I wish I could pinpoint what I'm looking for exactly…" Lisa sighed. She had no choice but to watch each video to see if there was a clue to helping treat Lori's condition. If not, then she would have to spend all night reading the documents next.

"I don't even understand the message Kurutta sent… Did he mean this is my only chance to research the subject of the fracture?" the child genius looked away from her monitor, in disbelief at what the message could have possibly meant. The only other option to its meaning was almost at a zero percent chance of being true. She brushed it aside, not wanting to get distracted thinking of impossibilities.

"We've got tracks on several of these monsters. Now, we hope we can capture one soon…" Oroka finished, and the video was done shortly after he reached up for the keyboard.

The child prodigy huffed. "Okay, Lisa, you can do this. Just keep watching and don't overlook anything," she murmured as she got back to work, but it was clear that the longer she was without clues or answers the more anxious she became.

 _"I can't tell Lori... Not until I confirm it... I can't..."_

* * *

The rest of the Loud family was downstairs in the kitchen, enjoying dinner. There were two tables in the kitchen, the adults' table and children's table. Everybody was there, except Lisa who insisted on staying upstairs in her room, so the Loud family mother just brought her a plate of food for Lisa to eat when she wanted to.

Lori was lost in her thoughts, half-heartedly eating. That fear in her body was no longer as prominent, the chills were lessened, but it did not make her feel better.

"What's with the glove, Lori?" the sports addict, Lynn Jr, asked their oldest sister upon noticing the gloved hand resting on the table.

"Hm? Oh, I just wanted to wear something new," Lori lied. She wished she could check her injury right now, but she knew that constantly checking the wound would do nothing to make it heal faster.

"You could've asked me to make you something," Leni commented with her mouth half full of mashed potatoes, "I mean, it looks like you're wearing a biker glove."

"I don't need an entire wardrobe change Leni," Lori gave a small smile, appreciating the offer nonetheless, though now that her slightly younger sister said so, it did seem like a glove more meant for bikers than anything else.

"Nah! If it was, it'd have all the fingers snipped off to get to the _'point'_ , right?" Luan grinned, despite the round of groans the pun got from the others at the two tables.

"Bad puns aside… I couldn't do a thing with Sam today," Luna tried to change the topic to something other than fashion. The Loud family treated dinner time as a way for the whole family to catch up on how their days went, it worked for them most of the time.

"Why? Did something happen when you were practicing?" asked Lynn Sr, the balding middle-aged father of the Loud family.

"She's afraid to go anywhere because of all the freaky stuff going on in town… But I need her help, or else I'll never get that deal going," Luna let out a frustrated huff. She seemed torn between being angry with her dearest friend or understanding her fears and being sympathetic.

"Clyde said his parents were acting the same," Lincoln nodded, understanding what his aspiring rock star of a sister meant.

"What deal?" Lola asked, more curious about what their older sister meant.

"Well… I wanted it to be a surprise, but we met a guy who wanted to give me and Sam a chance, he saw us practicing together. He offered to let us on stage at a small concert, as the post-finale after a lot of other bands finish," Luna explained. To the guitarist, this was a moment she had dreamed of for a long time, but without Sam, there was no chance in the world for the deal to hold up.

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry…" Rita felt terrible for her daughter's unfortunate luck, though her words did little to cheer her up.

"Why not just talk to Sam about it?" questioned Lucy, the gothic Loud.

"How do you talk to someone who's just being paranoid without calling them a nutjob?" Luna replied, rubbing her head. Sam's paranoia was putting her chances at her dream career for the future at risk, but there was no real way to talk to her about the fear without insulting her best friend at the same time.

"Is that a riddle?" chirped the red capped Lana.

"Lisa would know, but she was pretty caught up in the videos she was watching…" Rita stated. The mother of the Loud family did try to get the second youngest child to come down for dinner, but Lisa was firm about staying in her room to work on a secret project.

"Lily, you're getting more food on you than in you," Lori laughed at the sight of the infant Loud making a mess on herself while playing with the food, she got out of her seat and went over to Lily.

"You can't really force Sam to do anything though, especially if she's scared," the oldest Loud sister claimed while she was cleaning up their baby sister.

"Whaddya mean by that?" Luna asked. She was one of the few in their family that got along with Lori poorly. The two were usually not the best at seeing eye to eye.

"Ababara, pffffttt," Lily babbled and giggled from being tickled by the rag her oldest sister was cleaning her up with.

"She's going to be afraid no matter what anybody says," Lori claimed. A lot of the family was looking at her, worried that she might be on the verge of tempting a fight to start.

"What? Are you telling me to give up on Sam?" Luna demanded an answer, getting out from her chair. The mere suggestion of that alone was infuriating.

"What, no, I never meant that! …but you know, lately words are worthless… Sam doesn't need you to tell her it's going to be fine. She needs to feel it. You're the only one right now that's able to help her feel better, right?" Lori explained as she finished cleaning Lily up, deciding to just stay to help feed the youngest Loud sibling. Her reply however seemed to cause a surprised silence.

"What?" Lori was confused by all the strange looks the family gave her, save Lily.

" _That…_ doesn't sound like something you'd say Lori," Leni spoke up, breaking the silence.

"You sounded like mom," Lincoln added.

"Talk about being a _'momma's girl'_ ," Luan snickered, though it did not gain any groans this time, like no one was able to register the pun at the moment.

"You're usually bad at giving advice for stuff like this…" Lola spoke up, trying not to sound too mean about it.

"You usually don't care at all about this kind of thing," Lana agreed as well with her twin.

" _Or give good advice at all…_ " Lynn mumbled with her arms crossed, only to get nudged painfully in the side by Lucy's elbow to be quiet.

"It's normal to not sound like yourself once in a while… I've channeled enough spirits to know that," the goth Loud stated. Things began to go quiet again though. The Loud parents were looking to each other in confused worry.

"You're right, Lori…" Luna finally spoke up again, as she hugged her eldest sister tightly. "Thanks a lot… I really needed to hear that."

Lori patted her back, with a raised eyebrow. "You're welcome…?" she mused, feeling awkward. She was also starting to question herself after the advice she just gave, unsure if she really meant every word. She would have glossed over it if their family had not commented on it. "Come on. You don't want to wait for your food to get colder," she broke off the hug, letting Luna go back to the table to finish dinner with the rest of their family.

 _"…Is this another side effect…?"_ Lori asked herself, wondering if she needed to go see Lisa. She shook it off, realizing she was becoming paranoid with that train of thought. She wanted to keep her thoughts off her injury as much as possible.

* * *

The day went on as if it was normal. Lori had tried to visit Lisa for her follow up, but the second youngest Loud told her that there were no results yet and that she would have them in the morning.

It was currently midnight, and the full moon hung over the dark sky, wrapped around a cluster of stars. A whole picture of beauty for a stargazer to stare at. Everything was peaceful, almost everybody was asleep at the moment.

Lori lay in bed on her side, facing away from the wall. She was wearing her dark blue night gown that went to her knees. However, she began to hear a feint clattering noise hitting her ears.

" _Wuh…?_ " the young blonde girl groggily opened her eyes, glazing them to the alarm clock resting on her nightstand, showing the time with a deceivingly bright display. "It's almost four am… Who's up this early?" Lori rubbed her eye tiredly. She looked over to the other bed. Leni was soundly sleeping with her eye cover on. Lori tossed her blanket aside and got out of bed. Since she was awake now she figured she would go check out where she had heard the noise.

Lori made her way through the house calmly, while holding her cellphone. She walked through the halls, passing by her siblings rooms, though when she passed by Lincoln's room, her attention got grabbed by something in the corner of her eye. She took a peek through the open door, she saw her only brother snoring in his bed, with Lily resting on his chest drooling on him. She found it adorable. She could not resist taking a picture with her cellphone before leaving to go downstairs to find the source of that noise.

* * *

Lori saw the garage door slightly ajar. She reached for the knob and slowly opened it. She saw a few lights on, but the main light for the garage was off.

" _…Lisa?_ " she chirped. The child prodigy was seated at a workbench on a stool, dressed in her pajamas and very exhausted. She hadn't slept even a wink.

"Hm? Lori, what are you doing awake at this hour?" Lisa questioned.

"I should be asking you that," Lori stepped into the garage, her arms crossed. It didn't matter how smart the second youngest Loud sister was. She still needed her sleep, especially at this age.

"I'm, _uh…_ Look, I had something I needed to discuss with you," Lisa started, trying to get her brain to wake up more to focus, "I was planning on waiting for tomorrow when everyone was gone, but I suppose in this case, it is better to be done now…"

"What? Why?" the blonde girl raised an eyebrow. Lisa motioned her to sit down beside her. Lori did not like the atmosphere in the room.

"Lori, I've spent a few months recently researching the… for lack of a better word, these crystals that people are reportedly seeing around these incidents," the child prodigy slid her laptop over for them both to see, though her oldest sister noticed the crystal that had cut her resting in the container nearby, with the box Bobby had sent her sat on the workbench as well.

"I didn't think you liked to research rocks," Lori stifled a laugh, finding that hard to believe. Her genius sibling was the type to deem that sort of studying a waste of time.

"Only when they're interesting… unfortunately, yours was very fascinating," Lisa pulled out a small vacutainer that housed the shard fragment that had been embedded in Lori's palm.

"What do you mean?" Lori hesitantly took the vial, looking at the shard. The blonde girl had not taken the glove off and had even slept with it on. She did not want to take any chances with anyone seeing her injury.

"It didn't break off from the large crystal. It grew inside of you after you were cut. The shard you hold there is both organic and mineral… a fascinating fusion," Lisa tried to keep things simple, but even she had trouble at dumbing her large vocabulary down to be understood better. Being tired was helping a little.

" _Oh gosh…_ are you saying I have more growing in me?!" Lori gulped, looking terrified at the thought.

"Well, there's a chance that…" Lisa sighed. Deciding that it was time to quit hesitating. "Yes. You have what are essentially rocks growing in your body, as if they are a part of it."

" _D…_ does that mean I need to go to a hospital?" the oldest sibling asked. She dreaded the mere thought of going to a hospital at four in the morning.

"It'd be a futile use of time," the second youngest Loud turned to her laptop and began searching through for a specific few videos. There was a tense silence between them now, but more so from the fear of telling the truth. Once she had the computer ready, she turned back to her sister.

"Lori, you have less than three days to live…" she finally confessed.

" ** _W-what!?_ **Lisa, if this is a joke, it's not funny! Even Luan wouldn't pull a prank like that!" Lori scolded her little sister, but the child genius kept that straight face of hers on, despite being tired.

"It's why I didn't want to re-examine you earlier, because I wanted to be sure I was right before I informed you of any of my findings," Lisa apologized. She had been spending all day thoroughly examining the crystals she had taken from her oldest sibling in desperate hopes to avoid this diagnosis.

" _H-_ how do you know you d-didn't remove it in time? What if it couldn't spread?" Lori looked unstable now. Her younger sibling motioned her head over to the laptop, pulling up one of the several videos she had selected from the many she had separated from the other files.

Oroka appeared on video screen. He looked frustrated. "Day fifty-five of project fracture. Unfortunately, our attempt at early intervention via surgery did not work. At 4:13am this morning, Charles Doswin was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot to the skull before he could mutate further. We don't know how he acquired the firearm. These are the shards we retrieved approximately five minutes after he was wounded by a creature… they grew in him faster than we could remove them."

" _No…_ " Lori breathed, staring at the screen intensely as several varying sized organic crystals were shown. Lisa felt bad that she had to show this, but it was the only way to help her sister understand.

"In the two days that passed he experienced drastic personality changes, and emotional changes as well… he's not the first either," Oroka put up several pictures of people, all in containment, covered with crystals on many parts of their body. "These fractures lead to an entirely different world. As far as we can ascertain, the fractures appear randomly on their side as well. When one opens, it causes these crystals to fall out and releases a small burst of energy that causes people to feel immensely afraid for a short time."

Lori looked down at her injury. That description matched her feelings exactly after she got hurt.

"The fractures when they open most likely cause these crystals to fall through them, anyone that comes into contact with their bare skin will be infected. The time span varies from person to person, most lose the ability to breath or their hearts stop after three days. But the longest anyone has survived with the unknown minerals growing inside them is five days."

The video ended. Lori began hyperventilating almost immediately. " _I can't…_ this can't be right… It has to be a mistake!"

"I'm sorry. These are the documented videos that I had been requesting from the government for a few months…" Lisa tried to reaffirm for her. Hiding the truth was pointless now. "They've fulfilled them for unknown reasons, but these are exactly what I had been researching."

" _No…no no no no no…_ " Lori began to whimper as she held her head. The second youngest Loud sibling reached up and put a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her surrogate mother.

"There's really… nothing you can do to help me? Even to just buy me more time?" Lori was on the verge of breaking down.

"Lori, you're simply in shock right now! Please listen. I've examined these videos and read the documents a hundred times, and-"

Lori grabbed her by the sides. " **IS THERE A WAY?!** " Lori begged with tears in the corners of her eyes. The child prodigy stared as silence took over the room. After a moment, the oldest loud sister began sobbing, pulling Lisa close into a tight hug for comfort.

"I'm so sorry Lori…" Lisa did her best to return the hug. Lori sniffled and whimpered, trying her best not to wail. Her reaction was too understandable. Lisa had been crying as well when the results kept demolishing her hope with each passing hour, but inevitably her tears had run dry. "…there is one thing, but it is a ludicrous million to one shot… and even then, it is not a cure."

" _T-_ then is it even worth the time trying to do it…?" Lori replied. She was aware with some things like cancer, the treatment could often be worse than the disease itself.

"That's up to you… but if you agree, I am ready to go without two more days of sleep to help if I have to," Lisa swore to her eldest sister as their embrace ended. Lori wiped the tears out of her eyes, looking to her sister with that clear shimmer of hope in her eyes.

"Th-there are… too many people that need me... so I can't give up, right?" Lori asked.

"Our family would be irreversibly destroyed if any of our members died unexpectedly… there's a tool that helps retard the growth of the crystals, as well as cause them to dissipate," Lisa declared, but she was trying her best to not give false hope in the event that it turned out to be wrong or failed.

"What do you need me to do…?" Lori sniffled. The child prodigy began to pull up the many photos of possible creatures that had emerged from these fractures.

"I'll bring you up to speed on matters tomorrow, _but…_ one of the two things needed in order to save your life is…" Lisa gulped. She was anxious to even suggest it.

 _ **"You must collaborate, with a monster..."**_


	4. Plea For Help

Lori couldn't believe this was happening. That night was the worst in her entire life. She never felt more lost before than now. She planned on doing everything in her power to at least buy more time for herself, but the options in her power were almost completely nonexistent.

Lori was in her room, getting ready for the day. It was only eight in the morning, but many of the Loud family tended to sleep in on Sundays, so she was relieved to not be under as much pressure for when she would head out, without hopefully anyone but Lisa knowing.

Lori looked at herself in her wardrobe's mirror. Her hair was not too long, but it was still too much to take a risk with she thought, aware she couldn't let it get in her way.

 _"Is this really my only choice…?"_ the oldest Loud sister mentally pondered. She took a hair band and began to pull her hair back into a ponytail. Lisa's words from last night plagued her mind. The only way to ward off the crystals from growing inside her, and killing her, was to find a monster that would help her.

" _These monsters must have brains, too, right? I can't just be hunting animals…_ " Lori muttered to herself. She didn't believe it at first, but Lisa reassured it was the only thing with any chance at working, and even then, it wasn't a cure.

"Remember, Lori. It isn't Bobby's fault… he was trying to do something nice for you, because… _because…_ " Lori wasn't able to finish her sentence. She sighed, as she was done putting her hair up into a ponytail. She looked to her gloved hand to make sure it was securely on.

"Lori?" the blonde girl froze up when she heard Leni. Lori looked over to see her getting out of bed, woken up without warning.

" _S-_ sorry, Leni. I didn't mean to wake you up," Lori apologized. She realized speaking to herself might have hit Leni's ears easily. But she also thought being very quiet would make more noise than she would expect.

"It's alright. I had a new idea for a dress in my slee-…" Leni paused when the grogginess left her eyes. She was staring at her older sister in confusion. There was an awkward long silence between the two of them.

"Is there something on my face?" Lori broke the pause, starting to wonder why she was being stared at like she had gotten a nasty scratch on her face by the family cat.

" _No…_ that's what's weird," Leni rubbed her head. Lori was not sure what to say to that nonsensical statement. "Why don't you have any makeup on?" Leni went over to the dresser as well to begin fixing her own hair. Her older sister shrugged.

"I just don't feel like wearing any today," Lori simply replied, looking over to the fancy wooden box that Bobby had sent her. Lisa had insisted last night that she no longer needed to examine it, so Lori brought it back upstairs with her.

"You hate having your hair like that, too…" Leni added. The last time Lori had her hair in a ponytail was because of a terrible haircut, when she had been too busy to get it trimmed, but the oldest Loud sister had made her dislike toward doing her hair up like it more than obvious.

"What, are you switching places with mom today?" Lori replied in a snarky tone as she opened the box and looked at the various shaped jewels inside. She took a moment before reaching inside and taking the small blue sphere, tightly gripping it.

"I don't think so… Lori, I don't mean to sound like a creep but…" Leni paused, afraid to admit it, "You were crying in your sleep."

"I was…?" Lori raised an eyebrow, though felt a pang of guilt in her heart. She slipped the blue ball into her pocket and closed the wooden chest. "Don't worry about it, Leni. I don't even remember what I was dreaming about," she began to head for the door.

"Wait, are you going out to get breakfast?" Leni questioned, following her older sister through the hallway.

"No. I'm going out to do something important. I don't have time for breakfast right now," Lori declared, seeming more impatient than a business lawyer would be if they had to meet an important client. The two made their way downstairs and towards the front door.

"What is it? Maybe I can come help you," Leni offered, her concern still written on her face.

Lori shook her head. There was not a chance in the world that she would let any of her other family members getting involved with what she herself was dealing with. "Sorry, but it's… it's personal," Lori grabbed the keys to the family van off the key holder by the door.

"Oh no… don't tell me you and Bobby broke up," Leni sympathetically spoke. Lori was wondering why she kept giving the impression that her relationship ended.

"Leni, just… please. Me and Bobby are fine, but I have something important to do, so please, just pretend you never saw me leaving," Lori begged. That look in her eyes showed Leni that she was dead set determined on the task at hand, despite the secretive nature of it.

" _O…_ okay Lori," Leni opened the door for her, "But please, promise to text me and let me know you're alright at least."

"So, you are trading places with mom today," her older sister lightly giggled.

"I will, Leni. See you later," Lori shut the door gently to avoid risk of waking up anybody else, leaving the second oldest Loud sibling standing there, somehow less reassured than before.

" _She didn't promise…_ " Leni sighed, hanging her head in worry. She began to go to the kitchen wanting to get breakfast while nobody else was awake.

* * *

When Lori got into the driver seat of Vanzilla, she felt a sense of relief washing over her, knowing she had slipped out with ease.

"Are we ready to begin our task?" Lisa chimed up from the back seat, causing Lori to jump in her seat and almost having a heart attack from the surprise alone.

" **Lisa!** I thought you were going to work from the garage while I did the hunting," Lori spoke once her heart stopped racing. Lisa was meant to remain home and guide her oldest sister along with her complex tech while she searched for the monster. It seemed Lisa changed her mind though.

"I realized that I would not be able to concentrate to my fullest ability at home due to our family's high noise pollution…" Lisa adjusted her glasses, "I am far more valuable to you from this proximity."

The eldest Loud let out a frustrated sigh, but she nodded, not arguing against it. "But you told me you had to build that machine though…" Lori responded. She started the van's engine and began to back out of the driveway.

"The many documents that were given to me by the government had partially made blueprints within them… I already completed them and the schematics, but…" Lisa paused for a moment, looking a bit anxious to pile on any more bad news to her oldest sister.

"But what?" Lori asked her to continue. She wouldn't react by crying. She had long run out of tears to shed after hours pretty much spent after their talk with her face buried in her pillow.

"It needs a lot of work to be assembled, and the parts must be custom tailored for it… I've made several phone calls to other scientific colleagues that owe me favors to try and speed our progress along," Lisa explained. It was clear that the child prodigy was working off of nothing but sheer blind hope at this small chance now.

"You're giving out those blueprints the government gave you ? Won't you get in trouble?" Lori worriedly queried as they made their way out of their neighborhood. She was worried that the government would want to punish Lisa for leaking such important data behind their backs.

"Don't worry. I dissected the schematics and only sent one piece out to each person who owes me… they are handling several smaller parts but assembling it and the most complicated circuitry is left to me in the end," Lisa reassured. She could not get in trouble for this since she had only given out parts of the data instead of the complete thing. "Though I would be remiss if I didn't confess to feeling bad about having to lie to people I consider my friends…"

Lori did not know what to say to that. She barely understood all the science mumbo jumbo that her second youngest sibling said. "Thanks for doing all this for me, Lisa… I owe you a lot," Lori spoke, trying to focus on the road. They had a long drive ahead of them to get to the other side of town. Lisa remained quiet in the back seat, her laptop bag rested beside her. She was lost in her own mind, going over the plans once more in her head.

* * *

After two hours of driving, they arrived to the more work heavy part of Royal Woods, where mainly factories or assembly plants resided.

Lori stopped the van in one of the several parking lots around. There were not that man cars around, if only due to how early they were getting here.

"Okay, Lisa. We're here. Now what?" asked Lori.

"One moment. I have to get everything prepared," Lisa began typing on her laptop. "Here take this," she reached for her laptop bag and handed it over to her oldest sister.

Lori raised an eyebrow, reaching inside and taking out a wired earpiece and a pair of thin glasses. "What's all this for?" She questioned.

"It's so you can stay in contact with me, it also allows me to guide you," Lisa stated. Lori put on the glasses. The lenses weren't real, which relieved Lori's worries about having her vision be messed with while on this mission. A small map screen appeared on the left lens.

" _Whoa…_ " Lori stared in amazement at the screen in front of her left eye.

"I've been cross referencing several reports of possible monster sightings from both online posts, emergency 911 calls, and idle police chatter, alongside MeTube videos," Lisa explained as she continued to tap her fingers on her keyboard.

"How'd you get the police stuff?" the eldest Loud asked. It was impressive but also scary at the same time.

"I have many colleagues in varying positions of power… Police Chief Howard is also a very nice man," Lisa stated. The police chief had been more than glad to help her when the dire situation was explained. At least in a subtle way that did not bring up mention of the monsters or fractures.

"Most reports isolate some monster activity to and around an abandoned factory," Lisa explained, "It has an underground tunnel beneath it, it was meant for emergency evacuations in case all other exits were blocked."

Lori watched her tiny map screen. Several lines appeared, all crossing over until they triangulated on the old factory. "So… I just have to find a monster, and talk to it?" Lori still was unsure about this. It made her feel like she was out of her mind to be considering it.

"Unfortunately that's the only option," Lisa said, "Your symptoms at the moment are minimal, but we've lost at least twelve hours of time already out of your original seventy six."

Lori took a deep breath before she got out of the van. "I'm leaving the keys in the ignition. If something goes wrong, anything at all, you get out of here," she said, making sure her hair was not trying to get out of the ponytail shape it was in.

"You're well aware I can't drive, correct?" Lisa reminded her of her height deficiency.

"You have a PhD. You'll figure something out," Lori shut the door on that note. Lisa adjusted her glasses, trying to focus on the laptop. She watched as her oldest sister made her way toward the abandoned factory.

* * *

Lori arrived at the designated factory in a short time. A lot of it was boarded up. The viewable windows were broken, and parts of the assembly plant were falling apart.

"Can you hear me, Lori? Over," Lisa spoke up over the ear piece.

"I can hear you, Lisa," the oldest Loud sibling replied, while she was beginning to make her way to the back of the building.

"You forgot to say over… over," the child prodigy stated.

"Trying to talk like that on a radio never goes well. It always ends with two people ranting about how often they should say over," Lori exclaimed, reminded of their many family camping trips they had taken over the years, and it was guaranteed Luan would set up that joke every time. "How do I get in?"

"With the glasses you're wearing, I'm able to see things from your perspective as well…" Lisa informed her oldest sister, "Try using that rebar lying beside you to pry the boards off."

Lori nodded, grabbing the piece of steel and tugging hard to get it out. Lori dug the rebar in between some of the planks of wood and used her weight to begin leveraging them off. "Do you know anything else about the monster?" Lori asked. She had to know what to keep an eye out for. There had to be a reason why these creatures were dubbed monsters, after all.

"Unfortunately, no. All reports just indicate a creature has been seen prowling around at night on and off for the last week," Lisa stated, while reading the reports that she had put together on her laptop for convenience's sake.

"Prowling? Like a cat?" Lori chirped. The planks finally gave way and fell from the window with their nails bent awkwardly. The eldest sister made sure there was no broken glass left to hurt her before she began crawling through the new entrance, leaving the rebar behind.

" _Well, cats are natural predators…_ " Lisa muttered quietly in reply. Things went silent from there. She watched from her laptop as her family member got into the building.

Lori looked around the inside of the abandoned factory. It was quite eerie. There was dust everywhere. Rats and other animals scattering sounded as she entered. She felt uneasy immediately. There was a cold chill in the air as well, it made her feel even more scared than she was prior.

"I don't see anything, Lisa," Lori began to wander, looking at the various machinery that got left behind to rust.

"The monster we're trying to locate might have a nocturnal mindset," Lisa advised, "It's most likely trying to rest in the underground where there'd be minimal activity to disturb it."

"Great… what's worse than a monster? A cranky one…" Lori tried to boost her courage with a light joke, but it was unsuccessful. Her anxiety was becoming worse with each passing minute of silence.

* * *

The blonde woman spent a short while looking around the factory to find the access point for this underground emergency escape route, but so far, she had found nothing but trash. Eventually though, she ended up stepping on a very loose metallic part of the floor, which creaked.

"Hey, Lisa, I think I found it!" the blonde girl smiled. She reached down and began to pull. It took a lot of her strength to get it to start opening. It revealed an access shaft with an old rusted ladder in it that led down into the dark area below.

"It appears you did. I implore you to exercise extreme caution at first, because we do not know what is down here," Lisa advised. She could not hide her fear of what lurked down there.

"I'll try," Lori gulped. She hesitated for a moment before gripping the ladder with her hand and carefully beginning to descend into the dark underground. "I can barely see anything…" the oldest Loud sister muttered. The only thing she could see in front of her immediately was the ladder itself. After another moment, she felt the ground under her feet. She was relieved to be off the rusted unstable ladder.

"Give me a moment and I'll be able to remedy your problem," the second youngest Loud sister stated. Just then, Lori's vision suddenly turned green.

"Oh, wow… the glasses come with night vision?" Lori was amazed by how much these glasses could do. They almost seemed like a spy tool.

"I invented them to be multipurpose for a lot of situations…" Lisa stated, "Monster hunting was not one of said anticipated situations."

Her older sister looked around and took a few steps. She hit something with her foot that clattered a little when touched, "…Lisa?" Lori chimed up, sounding afraid.

"I see it," the child prodigy could see through the glasses as well after all. On the ground was another large crystal, similar to the one that had infected Lori originally.

"Pick it up. The more samples the better," Lisa ordered. Her older sister was hesitant.

" _B-_ but what if it hurts me again and I lose more time?" Lori questioned. She could almost hear her younger sibling let out a frustrated sigh at how reluctant she was to follow her commands.

"That's not how infections work…" Lisa said. Her oldest sister gulped. She reached down, reluctant to grab it at first, but when she grabbed the crystal with her bare hand, there was no pain. She let out a relieved sigh.

"Got it, Lisa," Lori pocketed the crystal before beginning to go deeper into the cavernous area.

"How do you wish to approach this creature?" Lisa asked, "I mean, their intelligence is undocumented…"

 _"I…_ I don't know. I guess talking?" Lori couldn't think of any other ways. She continued along, being cautious.

"Then I suggest you at least make your presence known, to avoid startling it. If we scare it off, we'll have to spend a while tracking it or another monster down," Lisa advised. Though she had a backup plan in mind in case her oldest sister was in danger and needed to escape.

" _alright…_ " the blonde girl tried to keep that courage of hers up as she began to walk along deeper into the cave.

" **Hello!** Is anyone there?!" Lori called out, hearing her voice echo back and forth from further into the cave. She could see nothing so far. Lori looked at the ground. There were dozens of crystals, but they were in fragments, like something had broken them with ease, as if they were weaker than the shells around nuts. " _What are those…?_ " she quietly asked Lisa.

"A fracture must have appeared here at one point… but it doesn't explain why they're fragmented," Lisa rubbed her head, trying to figure out the confusing part.

Lori then heard something, it was a mumbled low-toned growl. The crystal shards clattered around, bumped by her feet. The oldest Loud felt her body freeze up. " _Oh… my… gosh…"_

There stood an anthropomorphic white tiger, wearing an odd chest plate. Its fur was messy, but its long claws and sharp fangs were prominent. It was like a combined hybrid of a white and saber tooth tiger mixed with a human body.

" _He…_ hello?" Lori forced the words past her frozen vocal chords. The recently awakened tiger stood there, slowly glaring at her.

"Ormai Shangu daeu…" the white tiger monster snarled, raising one of its clawed hands. Those three claws looked sharp enough to cut through steel. Part of its shoulder had the strange crystals growing from it as well.

"Lisa, I have no idea what it's saying…!" Lori quietly stuttered, stepping backwards, preparing to run for her life. The monster stepped toward her again.

"What, you think I can translate? This isn't any language known to our species, as far as I'm able to discern." Lisa responded to her oldest sister, watching anxiously from her laptop in the family van.

" _Pl-_ please, I need to… _t-_ to talk to you…" Lori tried to stay confident as it took another step toward her.

" _ **Silunca!**_ " It swung its claw along the wall, leaving a large gash, trying to make her run away. "Imfuneo byau lifala, theansko lyean!" the white saber toothed tiger monster pointed its claws at the oldest Loud sister.

" _Y-_ you want me to leave? _I-_ I can, but …" Lori panted. Her heart raced. Beads of sweat started running down her forehead. "I need your help… **please,** listen…!" Lori whimpered, looking ready to go on her knees if it meant getting this creature to understand she meant no harm.

"Yan haug chancua tiana leun…" it began to run at the blonde girl, letting out a ferocious roar. When she tried to step back, she tripped on one of the many broken crystals falling onto her back.

" _ **No no no no…!**_ " Lori sat up with her eyes wide as it neared her.

"Lori! Close your eyes!" Lisa ordered. Lori did just as she was told. When her eyes closed, Lisa hit a key on her laptop, making the glasses her oldest sister was wearing let out a strong bright flash of light. The monster roared, blinded by the light.

"Run for it!" Lisa shouted. Lori quickly scattered to get back on her feet and ran in the opposite direction.

" **Wurg!** Weun Ilgo alstalcata yun!" the tiger screamed, its flailing arms scratching parts of the cave and leaving large gashes in the places it hit, while it stumbled blindly.

"I knew this was a bad idea!" Lori panted. She was trying to run back from the same way she came as fast as her legs could carry her, grateful this was not a complex tunnel.

"I fear your cat comparison to this creature was far more accurate than anticipated…" Lisa commented, unsure if this was fate's idea of a sick joke.

"Not now!" Lori retorted as she felt a sense of hopeful relief come over her upon seeing the ladder coming into view, she jumped as high as she could to grab on and begin climbing up.

Unfortunately for Lori, her rushed sudden speed had more force than the old ladder was capable of handling anymore. A few of the bolts higher up came loose, causing the ladder segment to fall off with her holding it. Lori felt everything freeze at that moment as she was starting to fall back into the black cave below. Before she even had time to register the event happening, she hit the ground. The ladder section landed on her legs.

Lisa had to watch in horror. The special glasses landed beside her oldest sister and cracked. "Lori! **Lori!** " the child prodigy screamed. The ear piece was no longer functioning due to Lori landing on it.

" _Li…sa…_ " Lori coughed, looking up from where she laid. "If you can hear me, tell everyone that… _I'm sorry…_ " Lori panted, barely able to gather her breath back now. The blue sphere she had brought along for good luck fell out of her pocket and rolled in front of her, she looked down to it.

Lisa saw the tiger monster coming into view and approaching, its vision no longer hindered. "Lori get up! You have to get up!" Lisa shouted, but it was hopeless. The monster stepped on the glasses, crunching them beneath its large paws and cutting off communication entirely.

"Goro, garaka iza…" the monster growled. Lori remained silent as she looked up to it. The creature looked to have at least partial remorse for what it was about to do.

" _Please…_ " Lori whimpered. She reached into her back pocket with her shaky arm, pulling out the crystal she had picked up when entering the cavern.

"Sarak sor," the tiger beast scoffed, seeing this as her attempt at a bribery. However, it noticed the wrist of Lori's gloved hand. It had blue jagged lines running through it like something was moving throughout her veins.

" _I don't want to die…_ I want to wake up from this nightmare…" Lori whimpered, keeping her eyes closed tightly while awaiting for what she knew would be her death. She felt the glove on her hand get cut off.

The monster looked at the large gash. It was cracked heavily around the palm with some of the blue blood pouring out. The wound had reopened from the fall. The humanoid tiger began laughing hysterically. After it began to stifle its laughter, it crouched down to her.

"Lanak orun, siztyu?" the humanoid tiger tilted its head. Lori looked to him in confusion, but she was unable to say anything. The pain finally became too much to handle. Her head hit the floor, she had fell unconscious in mere moments.


	5. The Contract Of Fate

For over two hours, Lisa stayed in the family van, all alone and not sure what to do. She was broken, crying silently to herself.

" _What have I done…_?" she whimpered. She could not tolerate the guilt swelling up in her body. "I knew the risks. I knew there was no chance. Yet I still aided Lori in this…" While she laid in the seat, she heard a light rapping against the side of the van. She tried to ignore it, but the knocking continued like it was a persistent salesman there.

The child prodigy stood up, looking out the van's window. Who she saw standing there made her sorrow turn into bitter irritation. Lisa grabbed the handle and opened the van door, letting it slide aside. "What do _**YOU** _want…?" the genius glared. Kurutta stood there, his face bearing that dirt eating grin.

"Nice to see you again too, Lisa… now before anything, let me start by saying, I don't want another lecture," the government agent greeted her. The prodigy stayed in the seat with her arms crossed.

"How'd you know where I was located?" she rubbed her eye, trying to hide the evidence of her crying.

"Oh, there's a tracking device in the car. Any family that has more than four kids is immediately put under secret monitoring to make sure they aren't an up and coming cult or the likes," Kurutta patted the roof of the car. He had no remorse for his spying from the way he said it. "Come on, little Lisa. If you tell me what's going on, I might be able to help you," the government worker pressed further, leaning on Vanzilla. Lisa said nothing. Another moment of silence made the man shrug. "Alright… Guess I gotta call Child Protective Services," Kurutta reached for his cellphone.

Lisa hopped onto her feet, her attention immediately drawn. " **What for?!** "

"Because, you won't talk to me and you're alone in the middle of nowhere here… which means, I gotta assume the worst. And the worst thing I can think of right now, is your daddy trying to diddle you before running off realizing he tried to touch the smartest gal in his family," Kurutta leaned toward her after practically insulting the Loud family father, "So will you talk to me, pretty please?"

Lisa hesitated for another second, biting her lip in her anger. " _Fine…_ " Lisa reluctantly reached for the laptop, "I'll show you what's wrong…" Lisa presented the screen for him to see for hisself. After a few moments, she brought up the footage that had been recorded from the special glasses Lori had been wearing.

"Well hack my legs off and call me shorty…" Kurutta watched the strange humanoid hybrid tiger monster closing in on Lori in the video footage. He was awestruck.

"Lanak orun, siztyu?" the monster's voice sounded before the audio gave away enitrely. The video broke down when it stepped on the glasses.

" _It can talk…_ " Kurutta sounded surprised by this.

"Indeed. I was quite fascinated by this as well," Lisa closed the laptop, though she was surprised that this seemed to be the first time this discovery of a monster with a vocabulary had been made as well. She looked up to him. "…you knew Lori was infected because you've got surveillance of our home and vehicle… correct?" she asked. Just watching the video again made her grief return.

"Yeah… when we found out about it, Oroka threw that thumb drive at me and told me to get it to you immediately," Kurutta answered. Lisa again could not reply with even a single word. He adjusted the feathered boa on his shoulders. "Guess I better get in there then," the questionable man stretched, cracking his neck.

"What do you mean?" Lisa quirked an eyebrow.

"I'll make you a deal little, Lisa… if you can put that crazy hate of yours aside, I'll go in there and get your sister back," Kurutta offered.

" _She's dead…_ " Lisa sniffled, refusing to look him in the eye, or believe him.

"Nonsense. If that monster can talk, that means it has a bigger brain than most of them. She might have something it wants, or even better, something it needs," the suit wearing man rubbed his chin. The second youngest Loud had never seen him with a serious expression on his face before now. His words did give her a little bit of hope.

"I can never get over my anger towards you though…" Lisa glared.

"It's a deal then," Kurutta began to walk away.

" _Wha?_ You said you would only help Lori if I forgave you!"

" **You know that** **I suck at negotiating!** " the government agent hollered back, leaving the child prodigy seated there in disbelief, now pondering if there was a fickle of good in him.

* * *

Lori lay on a smooth rocky floor. Most of her body was still hurting from earlier, but thankfully nothing felt broken. She had been awake for a short time now, but she was too scared to move from this spot or to do anything remotely.

 _"What do I do? Should I move? What if it's still there…?"_ Lori mentally asked, trying her best to not let out a whimper, despite her inner fear terrifying her to no end. The blonde girl was unsure if she should be glad to still be alive. She only had so much time left in this world, and even then, she had lost track of how much longer.

"Garai nook… Shimatsi," that hybrid tiger monster's voice terrified her, but nothing else happened. Lori took in a deep breath.

 _"It had its reasons for not killing me… I can't lay here forever…"_ Lori decided to take the risk of announcing her regained consciousness.

Lori sat up. She was in a cave still far away from the main path for the exit route, the cave was lit by several dimly crackling torches, the flames keeping the dark at bay.

She looked down to another pile of broken crystal shards. When she looked to her left where the voice came from, she saw that monster that had tried to attack her. It sat there on the floor, holding her cellphone.

" _Gaosa… Midriora…_ " he tapped his claw against the phone screen. he was not looking at her. She realized some of her injuries were treated, but she was confused since the makeshift bandaging had herbs stuffed in them that were pressed against her cuts and bruises.

 _"He attacked me, but then… helped me?"_ the young blonde girl wondered. She was able to stand up, but not without a spark of pain. Lori could not believe she was going to do this, but decided to approach the creature.

"Hello?" Lori spoke up. The white tiger looked to her with a growl. The eldest Loud raised an eyebrow when she noticed what the monster was looking at on her phone. "Why are you staring at that picture?" she questioned. The picture displayed on the phone showed Lily and Lincoln, asleep. The same photo Lori had took the other night of the two.

"Thasnako… isu famulant?" the white saber toothed tiger spoke up, breaking the quietly tense atmosphere between them. She took a seat beside him on the ground, wanting to ease the pressure off of her aching legs.

"You're asking if… that's my family?" Lori asked, but after a moment, she nodded. "I have a huge family…" she pointed to her siblings on the phone screen. "That's my youngest sister, Lily, and that is our only brother, Lincoln," she pulled up another picture, showing all of her siblings without Lori herself in the photo since she had been the one holding the camera at the time.

"Origa akunga an quega?" the monster spoke again. His voice was a lot more relaxed now, but she had no clue what he was saying. She had gotten lucky with the family translation, but she doubted going off her gut would do much good now.

"Sorry… I know you can understand me, but I can't understand you," Lori apologized. She looked down at her wounded hand. " _What the…?_ " she raised an eyebrow. Now the wound was slightly worsened with far more cracks than ever, but now there were jagged blue lines running up to her elbow and almost were past her forearm. "You know what this is, don't you?" Lori asked. The white saber tooth reached up to the crystallized part of his body and tapped his claws against it.

"Sicurab… onct infetuo…" he spoke in an apologetic tone. " _I… am… sorry…_ " those words surprised the oldest Loud sister. The half fluent English shocked her. It was like he had heard those exact words a lot in his time in Royal Woods, or as if they were the only words he had any real grasp on understanding.

" _N-_ no, there's a chance… my sister's super smart and said if I worked with a monster, that I would be able to reverse the effects and delay it!" Lori declared, standing up with a determined tone to her voice. "That's why I came here for you! I need your help! My family needs your help! If I die, they'll be ruined!" she had tears welling in her eyes just imagining what would happen to her family if any of their members died unexpectedly was upsetting her to no end. "If I die, they'll fight more… they'll blame each other… they'll tear each other apart…!"

The tiger monster stared at her momentarily before casting its gaze back to the picture on her phone of all of her younger siblings. "Agka sclonoto… iuf centa hulpait," the humanoid tiger muttered. He reached over and took out the colorless sphere Lori had with her. He held it out to her. She sniffled, taking it and staring at it on the palm of her hand.

"You're… you're infected with the same thing I have…?" Lori weakly asked. The creature nodded. It had indeed affected him, even worse so on the outside. "Then… will you help me?" she repeated her request once more. The monster nodded. He got up, dropping the phone on the floor before going over to a nearby rocky wall.

"Granduo itka sal!" the white tiger huffed, sharpening his claws. He began to slash away at the rocky walls, trying to destroy it to get something hidden away behind these deliberately placed rocks.

Lori waited with belated breath, but after a short time and many destroyed rocks later, the monster pulled out something. It looked like an ancient fossil, rectangular and jagged at several areas. The creature brought it over to her with a smile on his face as he held it out to her. The oldest Loud sibling took it with a confused expression on her face.

"What… what is that? I feel weird just holding it," the blonde woman confessed. For some reason just holding this item alone made her feel afraid.

"Normuliga gesto," he took the sphere from her again. He used his one free hand to stab into his own chest with two of his claws. Blue blood spurted out from the wound. The act scared Lori immensely. After a few moments, he pulled out a tiny red crystal fragment.

"What are you doing…?" Lori fearfully questioned. The tiger put the red crystal against the sphere, watching it absorb itself into him. There was a bright light for a few seconds, and when it ended, there was a light blue crystal ball left in its place, made out of a strong glassy material.

The monster held out his hand. The blue crystal ball shimmered, almost calling out to Lori for her to take it in her grasp.

" ** _Hold it!_** " a loud voice caught their attention and stopped them. They looked over and saw Kurutta stepping out from the shadows of the nearby tunnel.

"Nani?" the white saber-toothed tiger quirked an eyebrow. For some reason Lori felt like she understood what he said there.

"Who're you?" the oldest Loud sibling asked. The man's attire confused her even more. She was wondering what he was doing down here on top of that.

"I'm Agent Kurutta. Your little sister sent me to save ya from the beast here... But I didn't think I'd find you doing something even more dangerous," Kurutta introduced himself. Lori recognized that name. She knew that the mere mention of the government worker alone enraged Lisa to seemingly no end.

"Irig akogo?" the monster took a step toward him. Lori stopped the monster before he could attempt to pounce on the oddly dressed agent.

"What are you talking about? Doing something more dangerous?" Lori asked, worried about Lisa now more than anything.

"If you accept his help you'll be risking a lot… maybe even your life. I'm guessing Lisa hadn't finished going through all the documents we gave her," Kurutta stepped toward them. She looked down at the lines continuing to creep up her arm. They were beginning to feel cold now. The icy feeling coursed through her veins.

"Someone that was infected had gotten a monsters help…" the agent continued, "But he failed to adhere to the contract they had agreed upon, and as result, he died when the monster lost control."

" _Huh…_ " Lori blinked. She and the tiger were looking at him with their attentions fully grabbed now.

"You have the infection in you, while they have it on them… they lose their mind gradually as the crystals spread, unless they eat the core shard within another monster, which'll reduce the growth," Kurutta tapped on the fossil Lori held. "That there is a sealed driver… you break the seal, who knows what it'll become, but it'll be yours and only yours to use then."

Lori looked down at the sealed driver in her hands. She gulped. Now she realized why there was so many broken crystals around on the floor. It was the monster trying to find a core shard for himself and failing miserably, including the one she had found earlier.

"I have to fight to buy more time. Not just time for me either, but to get more time for both of us…?" the young blonde woman now was realizing what accepting the deal with the monster would mean now. It was a unity of desperation essentially.

"Efgual… tionka lo!" the white tiger monster growled.

"Yep, you two'll be linked for who knows how long! He'll exist in his own little world, waiting on you to call upon him… even though there's nothing left of his world," Kurutta added. The monster punched him in the chest without warning and knocked him backwards. His body scraped the ground, kicking up a small amount of dirt.

"Gawaka… Getuna oit yun!" the saber-toothed tiger roared, ready to maul Kurutta alive as he laid there holding his bleeding lip. Lori got in front of him, stopping him before he could do anything worse by grabbing his arm.

" **Stop!** Listen to me!" Lori raised her voice, "There's no reason to be upset! I'll do it! I'll accept the contract!"

"Rulakon?" the monster looked down to her, seeming to be shocked by her words. His rage clearly had stemmed from the government agent attempting to ruin the monster's chance at further survival.

" _Seriously…?_ " Kurutta coughed, trying to sit up. He could already imagine Lisa shouting at him.

"I'm sure there's a lot we can do for each other. I'm Lori Loud. Will you let me be your lifeline, in trade for you becoming mine?" Lori requested. There was a long silence as she held the arm of the creature twice as tall as her.

" _I… am… Jundao…_ " Jundao finally introduced himself after getting a grasp on the words further. Lori smiled as she gripped the blue crystal ball with her hand while he held it. Kurutta covered his eyes as a bright light began to emanate from the two of them.

When the light vanished, Lori found herself standing alone. She noticed a few rocks starting to fall to the ground around her. She looked and saw the sealed driver she held starting to fall apart, revealing something beneath its hardened surface.

"Oh… _wow…_ " the ponytailed girl stared in awe at what was left in its place. It was an abnormally big belt buckle. The center was hollow, like something was meant to be put into it. An odd golden trim was around it, the several various colored and differently sized gems spanned out from the center. The driver had a weird, shiny and silver dial on the side.

" _Teenagers really are idiotic…_ " Kurutta stood up now that the monster was gone, looking at the oldest Loud sibling as she held the driver and the jewel. He came over to her. "Never seen a driver like that though… What are you gonna call it?"

Lori did not know if a nickname was needed for it, but since she was asked, she had an idea come to her pretty fast. "I think the Queen Driver is right for it…?" Lori decided to be as egotistical as she could imagine with the name of her driver, as the two began to leave the cave. She was wondering where Jundao went though.

"Sounds good. You better be ready to hear Lisa scream at us both though, mostly me, probably," Kurutta sighed. He wanted to get out from this underground area as soon as possible after the minor beating he received.

"I'm used to hearing my family scream at a lot of things," Lori giggled looking a lot more cheerful now that she had gotten the monster to agree to help her she felt a warm sense of hope welling inside her she looked down at the small crystal sphere that shined in the darkness.

 _ **"I think we'll be able to help each other a lot, Jundao."**_


	6. Fighting Against Fate

Lori was seated in Vanzilla. Lisa was on her lap, hugging her tightly to the best of her short arms' ability. Kurutta was giving a more thorough treatment to the injuries she had received earlier.

"Wow, Lisa… I've never seen you this emotional before…" Lori commented, finding it rather sweet, but she indeed felt terrible for how scared she had made her second youngest sister.

"I know, it's just as shocking to me as it was to you," Kurutta commented. He finished wrapping the bandaging up around the young woman's leg. Lori took that as a chance to shove her foot on his face with a swift kick.

" **Gah!** My nose!" he cried, rolling on the ground while holding his face.

"I'm starting to see why Lisa hates you," Lori commented, rubbing a hand on Lisa's back to try and comfort her. She doubted the super genius toddler would get over the trauma that the fear induced to her for a decent period of time.

" _Sorry…_ Didn't realize I was dealing with a second mother hen," Kurutta let out an exasperated sigh, guessing he should not be surprised.

"Where's this monster you became associated with?" Lisa asked her eldest sister as she viewed the queen's driver that her oldest sibling had brought back, confused by why the center of it was empty, as well as four random parts randomly scattered between the gems embedding it, like something was meant to connect them all from the center.

"Jundao vanished after I made the contract with him," Lori answered, though she sounded uncertain about it.

Kuratta stood up, holding his achy head. "I told you he would wind up back in his world, waiting for you to summon him when you two linked together."

"You said he would be in his own world, but that there was nothing left of it? What did you mean by that?" the oldest Loud sibling found it perplexing, but she was still scared of what would happen if Jundao did lose his mind to the crystal infection while they were linked together, and if it would affect her as well.

"Like all beasts, he came from the fracture… though to be honest, we don't know if it's another world a parallel dimension or an alternate reality. We kind of gave up researching that part since it seemed like meaningless semantics," the government worker shrugged. He took a seat in the van, wanting to rest his legs for a minute.

"From what we gather now from our last test subject, he's hiding in a safe place where other monsters won't be able to get him, waiting for you to call upon him or his strength," Kurutta exclaimed what they knew from what they had learnt from the other test subject that made a contract with a monster.

"And knowing what I do about you and Oroka, when you say, _'from what we gather'_ , it means you know less than nothing," Lisa took the chance to insult the man.

"It's not from a lack of trying," Kurutta lightly laughed, finding her anger more adorable than anything. He took being called stupid like a firewall.

"My grasp on physics is slipping more and more by the day I feel…" Lisa murmured, becoming a little overwhelmed with how her perception on reality science and the laws of physics were being shaken up so drastically with no warning.

Lori heard her cellphone ringing while the two began bickering amongst themselves. The oldest Loud sibling took out her phone to answer when she saw it was her mother calling. "Hey Mom," the blonde woman answered nervously, trying to stay confident now that what she thought was the most stressful part of her day was done.

"Lori, honey!" Rita's voice chimed through the phone, "You and Lisa gave us quite the scare this morning."

"I'm so sorry, mom. I was just…" Lori stammered, trying to think of something to lie to her mother with. Rita didn't need to know about what she had done.

"Did your doctor's appointment go well?" Rita worriedly asked. This just confused Lori. "Leni told me and your dad that you had made one privately, she also said Lisa went with you to give support." there was a slight pause as the information registered in the oldest Loud sibling's head.

 _"Wow, Leni… I didn't think you'd ever cover for me for free,"_ the oldest Loud sibling thought, more so surprised that Leni had come up with a convincing lie. The low IQ sister normally tended to be terrible on her own in such matters. " _M-_ my doctor's appointment went well. It was just a little poison ivy," Lori continued, grateful for Leni's lie on her behalf.

" _I thought that was an animal monster, not a plant monster…_ " Kurutta raised an eyebrow.

" _Can you remain silent for longer than five seconds?_ " Lisa shushed him.

"Has your day been alright, mom?" Lori asked, while trying to ignore the bickering beside her.

"It's been great, honey! I'm at the mall. It's actually pretty empty today. Shopping's been such a breeze! I got you a present in case you weren't happy because of the doctor's trip," Rita stated, sounding a lot brighter from knowing her first daughter was going to be alright.

"A present…? Really?" Lori found that a little ridiculous. For just a supposed doctors trip too. She assumed though that the secrecy of the lie Leni came up with was somewhat cause for worry for the most part.

"Well, I was scared about what you were going to the doctors for… don't worry though Leni only told me and your dad about it," the Loud mother assured. However, while she was walking through the mall, she continued to notice the quietness of the area around her.

Then something caught the corner of her eye. In a closed small store behind the closed shutters and the clear glass. She stopped in place to see it. She could tell something strange was happening.

"Mom? Is everything okay?" the oldest Loud sibling asked, the sudden silence without warning concerned her. Lisa was trying to clean up the medical supplies and reorganizing them back into the first aid kit.

"Yeah, yeah, honey, it's just… I must be seeing things… it looked like the air was actually cracking… hahah," Rita laughed, sounding like she could not even believe it herself, but what she saw in the locked down store, the air was cracking and fragmenting, pieces crumpling to the floor.

"The air is cracking?" Lori repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Wait, what'd you just say?" Kurutta stood up, looking to her with wide eyes. The oldest Loud sibling put her phone on speaker mode to let the government agent hear for himself, hoping he would at least be quiet.

"Yeah. It's like something's falling through it too," the Loud mother stated. She saw weird tiny crystals starting to clatter to the floor, in different shapes and size.

"Look, Mrs. Loud, you gotta get away from that thing!" Kurutta shouted, startling Lori and Lisa. He was leaning on Vanzilla.

" _Wha-?_ Lori, who was that?" Rita questioned, concerned by the random man's voice. She wondered how he knew her name on top of that.

"The man trying to save your life! You need to listen to me!" the government worker demanded before the Loud children could interrupt him. As Rita stood there, the air completely broke, revealing an odd bright blue light shimmering through it. Something large fell through and pinned onto the ground.

" _A…ahh…_ " Rita gasped. A large humanoid lizard stood in front of her. Its upper and mid back was covered with a crystal coating covering most of its bodies backside. Its claws were piercing through its own skin to show their sharpness. The monsters swivel eyes flicked backwards, once it saw her it lunged for Rita without hesitation, only to be stopped by the security shutter, creating a large dent in it.

" **Mom?! Mom!** " Lori screamed, but she heard nothing other than snarling. Her mother had dropped the phone in her terror.

"What's happening?!" Lisa demanded. Kurutta shoved the child prodigy into the car before closing the door.

"A fracture appeared! Either your family has god awful luck, or they're magnets for trouble! Right now, we gotta get there!" Kurutta hopped into the passenger seat. Lori nodded, starting Vanzilla up and slamming her foot on the gas, driving off in a hurry. She was desperate to save her mother from winding up in a similar fate like herself.

"Today couldn't get any worse…" Lisa panted, trying to remain calm in the backseat. That tense silence took over from there as they focused on getting to the mall.

* * *

After a very unsafe and rushed drive, the trio began to arrive to the Silver Lining Mall. They could see several police vehicles, but strangely only one officer, who was either guiding people out of the mall or stopping people from entering.

"Alright, you two stay here," Kurutta ordered the two Loud sisters, hopping out of the van.

"No way! I'm going with you!" Lori stepped out as well. Lisa knew she herself was not going to be allowed to go in by either of them. The child prodigy felt bad that she could not help on this matter.

"Fine. Just stay out of the way!" the government worker ordered before beginning to run off ahead. The oldest Loud sister was about to follow.

"Wait, Lori!" Lisa grabbed her wrist. "You should take this with you," the prodigy presented the queen driver. Lori took it with a raised eyebrow.

"What can that do to help?" Lori questioned, not seeing how it can be of use.

"You need the monster's core shard to stifle the crystal growth within you. This driver is supposed to help. Kurutta said so, and as much as I hate to say it, I believe him," Lisa explained as hastily as she could. Her oldest sister nodded, slipping the queen driver away into her pocket before running off to catch up to Kurutta in the mall.

 _"Please, let this work…"_ Lisa hoped. She felt anxious about the risk of possibly losing some of her many family members, one of her worst nightmares, was coming close to fruition.

* * *

Only one step into the second floor of the mall, Lori and Kuratta saw multiple police officers as well as civilians, all lying on the floor, injured and or consciousness. Some stores were utterly trashed as well.

" _Welp…_ guess today's the last day we're able to keep this under wraps any longer," Kurutta adjusted the feather boa on his shoulders. The oldest Loud sister was not surprised that they were trying to keep monsters' mere existence secret if they were able to cause this much damage in such short time.

"Where is this thing?" Lori asked as they began to head around, staying on the second floor to act as a lookout.

"Your mother's the fat blonde one, yeah?" Kurutta asked. The short blonde girl let out a frustrated sigh, feeling like her nerves were nearly fried in their entirety.

"She's blonde, but not fat… why?" Lori replied. The government agent pointed ahead at a small fountain in the mall. Lori looked and saw the lizard monster. Rita was backing away from it, looking terrified and exhausted like she had been fleeing from it for a long time.

" **Mom!** " Lori shouted. Kurutta watched her run off. He let out a sigh as he reached into his vest and pulled out a revolver. He took aim, and squeezed the trigger. The gunshot rung out in the mall's halls yet the bullet bounced off the reptilian monster's crystallized back, causing it to turn around, confused but unharmed. The bullet barely penetrated the crystalline surface, but it was enough for the monster to feel it. This was enough of a distraction to give Rita a chance to flee.

" _Got a feeling I'm not gonna get out of this with all of my ribs intact…_ " Kurutta groaned. He watched as the lizard monster resumed chasing after Rita. It seemed like it wanted her dead, specifically after he saw her first when it emerged from the fracture.

Lori was running along from the second floor. She saw the scaly monster chasing after her mother, though teenager was slightly ahead of it.

" _Nabqa…_ " the sound of Jundao's voice rung out in her head.

" _J-_ Jundao? Is that you?" Lori panted as she continued running.

" _Yes… I sense a shard… Get me it…_ " Jundao ordered. The oldest Loud sister was just glad she could understand him now. She assumed that had to do with their link.

"I might die either way if I do nothing… Mom's more valuable than me too now," Lori swallowed hard after debating it momentarily. She ran for the side, grabbing the rail and throwing herself over it.

Lori landed on the reptilian beast, tackling it down to the ground with a loud thud. The lizard rolled on the ground with Lori briefly before it kicked her off, knocking her onto a wooden bench hard enough to break it in half. The monster, which she assumed was called Nabqa, hopped back to its feet.

The scaly crystal beast let out an ear-splitting roar, enraged that its prey had gotten away. Lori was relieved to see that her mother had kept running and gotten away thanks to her distraction.

" _That is Nabqa indeed…_ " again Jundao's voice echoed. Lori was glad her mother was safe, but she felt a new sense of terror washing over her now on top of the agony from her lower back. The blonde woman ducked when the reptile slashed at her. She hopped back to avoid the second quick swipe of its razor-sharp claws. " _Why do you not fight?_ " the tiger monster asked as Lori kept dodging one attack after another like it was mere instinct.

"I-I don't know how to really fight! I grew up learning how to dodge!" She answered. The only methods she really knew about fighting was not going to be much use here, growing up with ten siblings tended to train one to dodge more or less naturally than anything.

" _Did you believe linking only connected our minds? You should be able to-_ " Jundao stopped when Nabqa opened its mouth and fired a long tongue out that wrapped around Lori's arm.

Lori squealed at the slimy feeling. She had no chance to react before the monster yanked her toward itself and bit down on her arm with its fangs. Lori cried out in pain, feeling the dozen sharp teeth dig into both sides of her forearm. A blue and red mixture of blood gushed from her limb. The wounds cracked slightly around the teeth from the puncture marks.

"Get off her!" Kurutta shouted coming from practically nowhere, quickly tackling Nabqa. He forced his revolver into the lizard monster's partially open maw and pulled the trigger. Nabqa screeched as a large amount of blue liquid burst out from its now wounded mouth, releasing its grip on Lori as it fumbled backwards.

"You okay?" the government agent asked her as she knelt on one knee, holding her bleeding forearm. She was hesitant to investigate the injuries further out of fear that she might see crystals growing inside the wounds.

" _Mom's safe…_ I'm fine," Lori panted, looking undecided if she should be happy now when she had stinging pain to deal with. She saw the monster charging at them. "Look out!" she called out. Kurutta turned on his heels quickly, but right when he got his gun aimed, the monster grabbed him, shoving his hand upwards, causing the revolver to discharge a shot into the air, breaking the glass ceiling and causing fragments to rain down on them like makeshift snow.

Kurutta was stabbed in the side by the monster's claws. His wound let out blood almost like a faucet. Nabqa slashed the government agent across the chest, cutting his vest and feathered boa. the lizard monster then threw him into the nearby fountain. His back hit the small stone statue in the center of it. The water splashed around him as well as several of the many coins within it.

" _ **Hrk!**_ " Kurutta coughed out blood from his mouth, the impact alone felt like it had shaken his whole being inside and out.

Nabqa was about to go and finish off the government worker. Lori was forcing herself back to her feet, panting heavily, watching the overgrown lizard stepping through the fountain water.

" _ **Why aren't you fighting?!**_ " Jundao shouted into her head.

"I-I don't know how, I told you!" Lori whimpered. She swore she could hear the monster she had linked with snarling out his irritation.

"You're linked with me! let me combine my fighting prowess with your dodging abilities! Put that driver and the item I gave you to use!" Jundao exclaimed. The blonde woman did not exactly understand at first, but meekly, she nodded. She gulped and gathered her nerve.

"Hey! Freak!" Lori's call was loud enough as her family namesake to steal the lizard's attention, saving Kurutta momentarily. The lizard creature licked its lips with its long tongue but tilted its head when it saw her pull out the Queen Driver from her pocket. The elder sibling swallowed a clump of air. She felt like she somehow knew how to use the fancy belt buckle.

" _You've already put up with a lot to get this far… do not hesitate now, Lori,_ " Jundao declared, trying to calm her down. He knew she was under an endless amount of stress now. But if she failed here, then they both would suffer a slow death at the hands of the crystals infecting them.

" _You're right…_ " Lori took in a deep breath. She had to follow her instincts. She held the Queen Driver against her waist. She watched as a bright white belt shot out from the side of it and wrapped around her waist, and then connected itself to the driver again.

" **Drivah ready!** " an energetic voice spoke up from the driver. The gold trim practically shimmered with raw energy like it had been turned on.

"Srieafo?" Nabqa squeaked in confusion while tilting its head, its long tongue dangling from the side of its mouth.

" _I'm actually gonna get to see it…_ " Kurutta coughed, holding his wound. Blood seeped between the fingers, the government agent stared in awe, with little care for his current blood loss.

Lori pulled out the blue crystal ball, squeezing it tightly in her grip. She reached down, slotting it into the center of the Queen Driver. It snapped in perfectly, as if it existed solely for the Queen Driver itself.

 _ **"Gotta be ready to transform! Gotta be ready to transform! Gotta be ready to transform!"**_ the Queen Driver began to sing out. Lori tried to stay confident, even as her eyes were affixed to the lizard monster approaching her. She raised her arms and crossed them.

" _ **Transform!**_ " Lori threw her arms to her side. As she did so, her left hand hit the dial on the side of the driver, causing it to begin spinning at a ridiculous speed. It began sending out sparks of electricity that surrounded her harmlessly.

 **" _Queen?_ Ready!"** the belt called out. Several gears inside the belt began to spin rapidly, digging into the grooves on the blue crystal ball. After a moment, it pulled the ball into smaller shards. The four parts entered the empty holes of the Queen Driver, filling in for the missing jewels, before the center hole closed with a golden cover.

Lori felt a strange sensation as an odd snow-white suit appeared around her body. She heard a cracking noise, she looked to see the air breaking behind her, revealing a crystal ball, much like a larger one that she just had, but it was almost three times her size.

"Whoa…" Kurutta breathed. Lori closed her eyes. The sphere pressed against her back before beginning to spread apart and wrapping around her body.

 **"The Regal Retaliation! _Queen!_ "** the driver called out as a smooth helmet covered Lori's head, with a black long visor covering her eyes. She was clad in a chest plate of armor from the sphere that had parts of it on her legs and arms as well on her suited body. The pattern of it all reminded her a lot of Jundaos appearance.

" _Wh…_ what is this?" Lori questioned, looking down at her hands.

"This… is an entity created by our bodies being combined," Jundao answered within her head. They looked at their body, seeing the gem-like armor covering her.

Nabqa screamed, its patience worn thin, it began charging at them. Lori pulled back her arm on instinct and punched the monster in the stomach stunning it. She spun her other fist around and punched it aside. This surprised her.

"That felt great!" Lori exclaimed. She was basking in a ray of newfound confidence now.

"I can already see our combined efforts being fruitful," Jundao agreed. The creature rose up, as did its anger. The two got ready to fight Nabqa.

 _ **"I may not be a queen, but I'll still show you what happens when you mess with my family like one!"**_


	7. Temporary Freedom

The fight between the transformed Loud and the reptile monster had barely begun, yet it felt somewhat one sided for Lori.

 _"Why is your left side so much weaker than your right?"_ Jundao asked while Lori blocked another attempted clawing with her forearm.

"Because the creep here kinda bit my arm down to the bone!" she retorted, ducking under another swipe of the lizard monster's claws. Lori retorted by delivering a swift uppercut to its jaw, making it stumble back.

 _"Try calling upon my weapon. One of the buttons on your driver should do it,"_ Jundao suggested. Lori raised an eyebrow, looking down to her queen driver while the monster was stunned from the blow.

" _There's a lot of things that look like buttons on this…_ you mean these?" Lori reached for one of the blue gems that were filling in for the missing spots. she pressed the top left one down, and she heard a beep.

 **"Yes, queen! _Weapon!_ "** the driver called out eagerly. Right when the reptile charged for them, the oldest Loud sibling put up her guard, bracing for the worst, when suddenly the air between them started cracking.

 _"Oh no…"_ she feared the worst as a small sized fracture opened up. However, something darted out from the inside of it, slashing across the monsters chest, knocking it down. Its gaping wound bled out sparking plasma. The weapon itself was embedded to the ground. Lori looked the weapon impaled into the ground, confused.

" _A bow…?_ That's your weapon?" Lori questioned the oddly thick yet sleekly designed blue bow, with a handle on the lower half and the center having a section for her to grab, yet no string was involved. The bows two halves were as sharp as a knife.

 _"Just be silent and take it,"_ Jundao ordered. She nodded, grabbing the handle, gritting her teeth as she began to pull with all her might to try and free it from the concrete it was embedded into.

"Shrianka! Kialgo!" the lizard lunged for Lori. After one harder tug, the sharpened bow came free from the ground, flying upwards and cutting the monster across the upper chest to its shoulder. Sparks and clear smoke exploded from its body, knocking it back.

"Is it trying to talk too?" Lori questioned as she examined the bow. It looked like an oversized toy that her little brother would have on display in his room or the likes, she hoped the monster she was linked with could translate for her what their opponent was trying to say.

 _"He's speaking in utter gibberish,"_ Jundao answered the blonde woman. She sighed, assuming that her bond with the tiger monster gave her the ability to understand him at least.

"Well let's try this out," Lori tried to remain confident, seeing Nabqa standing back up after having been knocked down from the accidental attack, the humanoid lizard creature leaned back before whipping its head forward, firing its long tongue from its mouth like a whip.

" **Whoa!** " she jumped aside, avoiding the slimy whip that hit the ground. It darted left and hit her in the leg, making the transformed girl fall onto her back with a squeak of pain.

Lori saw the monster pull back its tongue, willing to lash it out at her again. The young woman grabbed the handle on the back of the bow and pulled it back. Energy quickly swelled from both ends of the bow into the center, creating a bright blue arrow. She let go of the handle, watching the arrow fly towards the enemy.

"Skraka!" Nabqa cried out in pain as the arrow hit it directly in the mouth, causing an explosion of blue blood from its mouth. The pain seemed to be starting to overwhelm the creature.

"I can't let up now…!" Lori hopped back onto her feet. She then began to fire arrows as fast as she could while circling the monster. Electrical smoke spewed from its created wounds, the relentless assault was beginning to wear it down.

Nabqa turned its back to her, using the crystallized part of its body to block the arrows. They bounced off and hit the ground before dissolving. Lori charged for the monster while it had its back turned, gripping the sharpened bow tightly in her hand.

"Take this!" Lori swung hard downwards, creating a blue aura trail behind the swing. The monsters back exploded with sparks as crystal fragments flew off from around. The impact site caused the monster she was fighting to cry out even harder.

 _"My weapon was not intended for melee dueling…"_ Jundao commented, sounding disappointed with the misuse of his weapon. Like he had caught someone trying to hammer in a nail with a wrench.

"Sorry, but my arm was starting to hurt too much from firing it so much," Lori apologized. Her wounded arm could no longer fire the arrows at the high rate she had been doing due to the bite wound's pain flaring up.

The transformed Loud stabbed her bow blade into the monster's shoulder in an attempt to slash at it again, but it took the attack. It tightly gripped her hand, it then shot out its tongue at her again, barely missing her helmet clad head.

" _let… **go!**_ " Lori growled, practically wrestling to free her arm from its grasp. The blonde woman punched the monster in the face and grabbed its tongue so it couldn't shoot it out at her again.

"You bit a chunk out of me, so how about I take a part off of you?!" she laughed. She landed a headbutt to the monster's skull, dazing it for a second. She kicked it in the stomach, then she yanked its tongue to pull the lizard creature back to her. Lori then slashed it in the stomach with her weapon, causing another burst of blue blood while it slid past her practically.

" _G-grahfuji…_ " Nabqa fell onto its knees, holding its stomach in agony. It seemed she had hit a weak spot. It was panting, its tongue draped on the floor with its energy completely gone.

 _"Now is our chance! **Finish him off!** "_ Jundao ordered. Lori nodded, feeling more confident than ever now. She threw the bow blade aside and reached down, hitting each of the blue buttons on the queen driver and then spinning the dial on the side of it.

 **"Yes, Queen! _Finisher!_ "** the queen driver called out eagerly. Lori saw a new fracture appear nearby, she saw Jundao step out of it, his claws sharpened and ready. They both had the monster surrounded from both sides.

The oldest Loud sibling looked confusedly at her right leg. It was beginning to glow and swell with energy. It felt strange to her, like something was crushing her leg. Every ounce of energy she let build strengthened that feeling.

"It's time to see if what you said about stopping the crystal growth is true," Jundao told Lori as he began to charge for the lizard monster. Nabqa stood up and tried to swing his claws at the white saber tooth tiger. "Get ready!" he told Lori, guarding the attack and stabbing his claws into Nabqa's chest, pinning their foe to the ground. Jundao began to run for her, dragging the screaming creature across the ground.

" **Ready for what?!** " Lori asked in terror. She watched Jundao swing upwards, throwing Nabqa in the air towards her with a loud roar cutting the air. She squealed in fear, closing her eyes and looking away. As the humanoid lizard was flying right for her, she did the only natural thing her body would react with and swung her leg up to kick him away in defense.

 _ **"Alllllllright!"**_ the queen driver exclaimed. Nabqa was hit by the explosion of sheer energy. The force was strong enough to send it flying into a nearby pillar, cracking part of it. The humanoid lizard slowly slid down from the impact spot, with a bright blue boot print on his stomach from where it had been hit.

" _A…arskanto…_ _no…_ " the monster coughed. Lori finally opened her eyes again, seeing Jundao stepping up beside her.

" _I…_ is it over?" she asked.

"In a moment, his suffering will end…" Jundao answered. They watched as the monster's body began to crack from around the impact spot. It looked to the transformed Loud with a sorrowful expression. His entire body shattered like fragmented glass, falling to the floor only to begin slowly deforming into dust.

"I killed him…?" Lori held her helmet clad head, panting. She could feel her anxiety swelling.

"That person died long ago… what he left for us will help us far more than it would have helped him," Jundao pointed to the pile of dust, where Lori saw a red crystal fragment, which glowed brightly atop of it. She removed the queen driver from her waist.

 **"Yes, your highness,"** the driver wearily spoke as it shut down. Lori transformed back to normal. The blue sphere was ejected from of the center for her to catch it in the palm of her hand.

"A core crystal fragment?" she went over and picked it up from the dust pile, holding the bright red shard in her hand. Holding it alone made her feel relieved.

"That… was fantastic!" Kurutta spoke up, stumbling over to them. He was able to get the strength to walk again, though his wound was still in need of treatment. " _Wow…_ you look like crap," he commented upon seeing all of those cuts scrapes and bruises on Lori.

"Thanks… you too…" she sighed. She turned her gaze back to the item in her palm. " _How do I use this…?_ " she pondered, her eyes locked on the core crystal shard. She was not sure how this tiny thing could reduce the crystal growth the two linked individuals were infected with.

"Like this," Jundao took the fragment from her hand and put it into his mouth before swallowing it, the other two stared at him, shocked.

"If only I understood what he said there, that might have come off like it was sensible…" Kurutta commented. Lori assumed she could understand the white tiger monster due to their link.

Just then, the crystal overwhelming part of Jundao's body began to crack and fall off harmlessly, clattering to the ground. It turned to dust momentarily afterwards.

"Whoa…!" Lori gasped.

" _ **Hahahaha!**_ It worked!" Jundao stretched. He felt free. Free from a terrible curse. Lori looked at her injuries, watching as the cracks around her wounds started to vanish. The blue tainted blood reverted back to natural red.

"I feel so much better too," Lori let out a relieved sigh, as the odd feelings in her body began to vanish in seconds. However, she knew that this was only a temporary solution. Nonetheless, they had more time now. She hoped Lisa could give a more accurate frame for how much time they had exactly.

Jundao began to walk back toward the rift he had opened when he was summoned to finish off Nabqa.

"Jundao!" Lori called out to him, stopping him in his place.

" _Hm?_ " he raised an eyebrow, looking over his shoulder to her.

"I'm glad to have you as my partner… Thank you so much for helping save my life… and my family's, too."

Jundao scoffed. "You know there is no cure, correct? For as long as we want to live, we'll have to fight for survival. Nothing more, nothing less…" Jundao claimed, not looking back at her, expecting her to protest the mere idea.

"I know that… but if I have to keep fighting, I'm happy to know I'll be fighting alongside you," Lori finished. After a moment of silence, the tiger continued to the fracture to return from where he came.

"I have faith in you, my queen… Don't make me regret it," Jundao stepped into the fracture. The broken air began to fix itself in seconds afterwards.

"You can actually talk with monsters… what a lucky dame," Kurutta commented.

"Yeah, well…-!" Lori stopped herself though before she could punch him. She just realized that she had forgotten about her mother in the middle of the battle. She began to run off.

" _W-_ wait! Where are ya going?!" the government agent called to her.

"I have to find my mom! Go to Lisa! She'll take care of you!" Lori shouted back, continuing to run the opposite direction.

Kurutta let out a long sigh, turning around to make his way out of the mall. His cellphone started ringing. He pulled it out. "What is it?" Kurutta answered, albeit continuing to stumble.

"The fracture detectors spiked with immense activity… Do you know what that means?" Oroka spoke up on the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, Oroka-san. I can tell you what it means, cause I saw it with my own eyes. We have our first successfully transformed user," Kurutta answered. He heard the fracture researcher let out a frustrated groan at the nickname.

"You're as casually racist as ever, brother... Wait, you mean that Loud girl actually did it? _**HER?**_ Out of all the test subjects, she pulled it off?" Oroka sounded amazed. Like it was impossible to have this happen. His expectations never hoped for this luck.

"Her partner is really… _unique…_ then again, the Loud family is practically its own species with their records," Kurutta coughed, his attempt to laugh ruined by his painfully aching side.

"That means we can begin heavy duty testing… You'll get me all footage of the transformation you can find. Also, try not to let any of it leak to the media for as long as you can... Give them the footage of the monster as a smokescreen, that'll buy us a week at least. Got it?" Oroka ordered his personal worker, sounding eager to see this himself yet clearly cautious for what this may do to his research.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll handle all of that… as soon as I get my bleeding stopped," Kurutta agreed. He hung up the cellphone, and he sighed as he looked up to the sky. _"Can't wait to see how you use those powers, kiddo…"_ he mumbled his thoughts on Lori. He tried to focus on getting to Lisa so he could get treatment and call the paramedics for the rest of the injured civilians. He just hoped Lori would not forget to take care of her own injuries afterwards.

* * *

It took a few minutes for Lori to get outside the opposite side of the silver lining mall. She looked around frantically.

"Lori?" she managed to hear her mother's voice. She saw her mom hiding behind a nearby car in the parking lot, the blonde girl was very relieved as she hurried to her mother, almost tackling her into a hug.

Rita gladly returned the embrace. "What are you doing here? It's not safe," she asked, worried when realizing how injured her eldest daughter was.

"I came to help you, mom! You don't have to worry about the monster anymore," Lori proudly declared, reassuring everything was as safe as they could be.

"Did it attack you, too? Do you need to go to a hospital?" Rita worriedly questioned. She wanted to faint on the spot from all the wounds she saw on Lori, she was assuming the police had handled the monster.

"I'm better than ever now! I beat the monster!" Lori happily exclaimed. Her mother looked at her like she was insane, but her eldest daughter was far too excited to care now that she was not going to die in a couple of days.

"Come on, Lisa is waiting for us in the car," the young blonde woman insisted.

" _O-_ okay… Was the doctor's trip a lie?" Rita asked as she followed her. Thinking maybe this was not the best time to give her oldest daughter the present she had bought her.

"Yeah… _sorry._ It's a long story. We'll explain most of it later," Lori apologized, wanting to just focus on getting back to her second-youngest sister who was waiting for them at the front of the mall.

* * *

"Be honest with me, doc. Am I gonna make it?" the government agent jokingly asked. He was alone with Lisa, who was finishing up with tending to his side wound. The child prodigy gave an unamused look as she lathered the rubbing alcohol into his wound, causing him to cringe.

"You might feel a little sting," Lisa said afterwards, she then began bandaging the claw mark. Kurutta groaned, remaining laid on the back seat.

"Sorry about the blood. I'll pay for the car cleaning," he apologized, but he heard the young girl chuckle at the offer.

"This van is meant to hold thirteen people at a time, most of which are teenage girls. There have been a lot of bodily fluids that stained these many seats. Blood isn't uncommon, either," Lisa responded. Blood was a lot easier to clean than the other possible messes as far as she cared.

"You're worse with your bedside manner than I am with gambling," Kurutta coughed, relieved that the gauze was finished being applied to his clawed side.

"Well, you have immensely fortunate luck to have not had a vital organ be hit by the creatures claws… It's quite a shame that the monster disintegrates when it's defeated," Lisa exclaimed, sounding more remorseful for the monsters death than she was for the government worker's injuries, "I would have loved to acquire samples from the corpse."

"Lisa!" Lori called out as she and their mother approached Vanzilla.

" _ **Mom!**_ " Lisa gained a bright smile. She hugged Rita with her little arms.

"Don't worry, honey, I'm fine…" Rita reassured, picking up the child prodigy to return the hug. The mother noticed the oddly dressed man getting out from the family van.

"Who's your friend?" Rita hesitantly questioned.

The man adjusted the feathered boa around his neck. He was slightly lightheaded from the blood loss, but he knew he would be fine. "Kurutta's the name. I'm with the government. I guess you can say I've been your family's personal aid for the day."

"Oh… you're the one that Lisa doesn't get along with," Rita tried to put it nicely, but could not find a better way to describe her second youngest daughter's feelings for the agent. Lisa had told her family to never let this man into their home several times after all.

"Lisa, maybe you should forgive him," Lori tried to suggest as Rita put down the child prodigy.

"After what he did, that's not a feasible option," Lisa huffed, crossing her arms, refusing to look at the injured man leaned against the family van

"What did he even do to you?" her eldest sister crouched down to her level, "You always told me that holding grudges was useless."

"It's what he hasn't done that's upset me…" Lisa countered, "He's a millionaire due to an inheritance and uses that money to bribe people into doing work for him in his place. He tried to pay me a large sum to work with his brother a year ago, but I refused to accept it... So in trade, he revoked funding from two of my research projects."

"She drives a hard bargain, to say the least," Kurutta chuckled. He was probably so far past incompetent that he would prefer to be lazy with the help of the large income than anything. Rita looked to her oldest daughter, unsure if she herself should chime in on this matter. But Lori motioned that she could handle it.

"Lisa," Lori breathed, "He may be lazy, but he's a good man. He's done so much for us."

The child prodigy adjusted her glasses. "Enlighten me?"

"When I got infected, he got that information to you and helped find a way to save my life fast… even if it's only temporary. He went into a creepy cave for you just to try and save me. Not to mention he nearly got himself killed helping to save mom."

Lisa stared blankly for a moment, processing the information for a good few seconds. She let out a sigh. "Kurutta."

"Yeah?" Kurutta turned his head to her.

"I did not have any of this occur to me before Lori informed me of it. While I deplore your ethics and ideals, you at least have good intentions… Thank you for helping us so much these last few days, and I'm sorry for being cruel to you these last few months."

That dumb grin on his face appeared again. "Wow… I hope this isn't a near death experience dream again," Kurutta chuckled, unable to believe what he was hearing. The young man began to walk away. "I'll see you two around! I gotta handle this mall mess now…" he waved a hand goodbye before he continued on to get into the mall to handle what Oroka had asked him to do.

"That was very mature of you Lisa," Rita stated, proud of her intelligent daughter for overcoming that grudge for the most part. "Now, can you two please explain to me what is going on?"

The two sisters looked to one another, then returned their gaze to her. There was no point being secretive with their own mother.

"We'll explain," Lori spoke,

 ** _"Just take a seat, it'll be a lot to take in."_**


	8. A New Hero?

During the drive on the way home in the Vanzilla, Lori and Lisa spent the time explaining most of what was going on to their mother. However, they did leave out that Lori was inching towards death's door for as long as she was infected with the strange crystals. They didn't want to stress Rita out more than they already have.

"Goodness me… and here I thought the worst thing that could happen to you Lori was breaking up with Bobby," Rita commented, casting a glance to her eldest child.

" **We didn't break up!** " the oldest Loud sibling responded, confused, "Why does everyone think we did?"

"Well, honey, long distance relationships never work out," the Loud family mother claimed, trying to avoid stating the obvious that Bobby coming less and less frequently might be a sign of his exhaustion from the relationship.

"We're fine, don't worry," Lori held her head as she reassured this. There was no denying though, by now the last thing she was focusing on was her relationship.

"Well… I'm still glad you're alright. I just wish you didn't have to go through any of that," Rita stated, sounding more disappointed with herself than anything. She felt like she had failed as a parent for letting her child get hurt this badly. "Lisa, can you hand me that bag from the back?" the Loud mother asked. The child prodigy nodded, passing up one of the few bags, letting her oldest sister take it.

"What's this?" Lori quirked an eyebrow at the small sized box.

"It's your present. It was meant for you to see when you get home, but I guess you can see it as your reward for saving me," Rita said warmly. She was still very tired after all that running she had to do when the monster was trying to eat her alive.

"Thanks, mom," Lori smiled. She started to open the box. After removing the ribbon from around it, she was surprised to see an odd curved ring inside the box. It did not look worth even fifty dollars, but it had an odd style to it that appealed to the young woman. "You got me a ring to make me feel better if my doctor's trip didn't go well?" she questioned, finding that a bit strange now. She was more worried about what exactly her parent thought she was going to the doctors for in her lie.

"Because we figured it was something very bad," Rita answered, "I mean… Why would you make a secret appointment, unless it was either pregnancy, or…?"

"Okay, mom, don't put that image in my head!" Lori insisted for her to stop there, accepting the curved ring with a smile. She slid it onto her left ring finger.

"I thought that finger was meant for marriage rings," Lisa pointed out, assuming it was a mistake.

"It isn't when you want to use it to keep other creeps away," Lori smirked. She was paying little attention to her pain, still enjoying the adrenaline she got from defeating the monster.

" _That's…_ quite an interesting method for showing appreciation of a gift…" Lisa murmured, unsure if Lori's logic was wise, but she would not argue if it kept her oldest sister clear of distractions.

"Oh, and mom, can we ask you for a favor?" Lori requested. Their mother looked uneasy. Favors in the Loud family were never simple things.

"Well you did save my life… What is it?" Rita sighed knowing she had no way out from this favor

"We want you to keep Lori's transformation, as well as the monster she has become associated with, a secret from the rest of our family," Lisa explained on behalf of her oldest sister. Today had been too emotionally stressful for the child prodigy, so she hated to have to lie actively to a majority of their family on top of all that, but she knew they had no real choice.

"Why's that?" Rita replied, wondering what the point of that would be at all, since it seemed like the lie would cause more trouble than it was worth.

"Because then they'll start asking for things from me every minute, and I'm not up for dealing with it either. It's not like I'm a superhero straight out of a comic," Lori exclaimed. Lisa did not like to hear the ending of that statement, but she guessed it made sense. Her oldest sister was fighting for her own survival. Anyone whom she saved in the confusion was lucky coincidence.

"Honey, you have powers now. You have to understand that you now have more responsibility than ever before…" Rita claimed. She wanted her oldest daughter to be safe, but if she had a gift that could help the world, the mother would hate to see it squandered on selfishness.

" _Yeah…_ " Lori sighed. She had to agree with her responsibility being so large, especially the personal responsibility that was stuck on her. She laid back in the passenger seat, wanting to rest for the time being. She was starting to feel the exhaustion catching up to her. Things remained awkwardly quiet from there on for the three members of the giant family.

* * *

It only took a few minutes for the family to get home. It felt relieving to be able to come home and relax. The family van was turned off. Rita got out and headed into the house.

"I feel bad that I made you waste your favors with your friends, Lisa," Lori apologized to the child prodigy, getting out of the car and closing the door. Since she gained the queen driver, there was no purpose behind assembling the driver in the blueprints anymore.

"On the contrary, Lori, I feel as if I must do it for simple research purposes now. At the very least, it'll be created for testing, or as an emergency backup in case something goes wrong with your queen driver," Lisa explained. The creation of another sealed driver would be anything but useless now, at best it was a useful researching tool and at worst it was simply an emergency backup item.

" _Well…_ alright, I guess. I really appreciate you covering everything in case something does happen," Lori smiled. For some reason though it gave her an unsettling feeling that it was a bad idea from start to finish.

* * *

When the two siblings stepped back into their home, they could see most of their siblings mobbing their mother.

"Oh, welcome home," Lynn Sr greeted them, looking relieved himself to see his whole family.

"Salutations," Lisa said, staring at the mobbing like a research experiment.

"What's going on, dad?" Lori questioned. Her father motioned that everything was fine now at least.

"We were just watching the news and they were talking about an attack happening at the mall, and when none of us could get ahold of your mother. We got worried," the Loud father exclaimed. Clearly looking like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders upon seeing his wife safe and sound.

" _Oh, right… we forgot to retrieve mom's phone…_ " Lisa murmured upon realizing this.

"Lori?! What happened to you?" Leni suddenly asked. She looked instantly regretful for letting her older sister leave the home this morning.

"This? _Uhhh…_ " Lori gulped. Her bruises and untreated scratches on top of all the bandaging were even more prominent. She began to mentally panic as now the many siblings' attention was on her instead. What was she supposed to say to get out of this?

Lisa butted in. "She was hit by a careless motorist." It was the first thing she had come to mind that could explain the many injuries, but also lie on Lori's behalf.

" _ **What?!**_ " Most of their family screamed in unison, hurting their eardrums. Lori was the one now surrounded by concerned family members, not counting Lincoln and Lily, who stayed seated on the couch, watching as if waiting to come check on their family member once things calmed down.

"Are you alright?"

"What happened to the driver?!"

"Mom and Lisa were with you at the hospital?"

"Did you break anything? You look like a mess!"

"Do you want us to take care of you?"

"I hope you were looking both ways before _'motor-crossing'_ the street!"

"Luan!"

"Everyone, calm down!" Their oldest sister screamed, stopping the many questions at once and quieting things down. Lori breathed in for a moment, trying to gather her shaken nerves. She had to go along with the lie now. "I'm fine! I don't know what happened to the driver! Yes, mom and Lisa were with me at the hospital, and no, I don't need to be taken care of, because I feel better than ever!"

Her play along with Lisa's lie was perfect, but the end confused the many Loud siblings. How could she possibly feel good after getting hit by a motorcycle?

"Girls, give Lori some breathing room she's tired from the long day," Rita told the children.

"Hey, look! The mall's on the news again!" Lincoln called out, trying to help his oldest sister with getting that breathing space. Lily giggled in his lap, gnawing on his hand like a teething ring.

Lori let out a relieved sigh when their many siblings went over to the couch to see the news. Lisa headed upstairs to get back to work on the sealed driver's main circuitry. The eldest sister figured she could at least watch to see the announcement that monsters were indeed real. A breaking news soon to be made to the world.

The TV showed a reporter standing outside of the mall from a good distance away in the background. Multiple ambulances came and went for the various people who had been injured or knocked out.

" _Wow…_ that looks worse than they said," Luna commented, relieved to know their mother had not been at the mall when this happened. When the mall was in the news earlier, it was only being talked about. They had nothing more than simply warning people that something bad was happening there.

"Nobody was reported as dead earlier at least," Lucy stated the positive, though she knew that it might simply be from lack of information from the victims of what happened at this mall earlier.

"Shh, be quiet, I can't hear it," Lynn Jr ordered them to remain silent.

"We reported on this earlier today when we had only the initial news, but this seems to be connected to all the other incidents that have been happening across Royal Woods," the reporter began. A video appeared on screen of the lizard monster appearing in that closed store within the mall. "Monsters… monsters are real," the reporter gulped nervously. No brave face he could pull off could hide that he was terrified to no end.

Most of the Loud family stared in awe at this. Lori, Lisa and Rita were the only ones unfazed as they seen it with their own eyes. Lisa got up and made leave to the garage.

"Lisa, don't you want to watch this?" Lori asked.

"Negatory," Lisa shook her head, "I can hear it from the garage. I have to begin work and double check the blue prints anyhow," she continued out of here.

"This monster appeared from thin air and attacked many people around," the reporter continued, "Thankfully, nobody died. The monster was focused on one person, but we have no clue on who nor footage of them. However, we have an eye witness to tell us what happened."

The camera followed them over to one of the many nearby ambulances where an old man was seated on the back of it. His injuries were treated already.

"Sir, can you please tell us what happened in there?" the report requested, holding up the microphone to his face.

"Ohh, it was terrible! That monster was chasing after somebody, and anyone who slightly got in its way got bashed around… Dang thing, even broke my glasses!" the old man huffed, "But someone came and beat the monster! They appeared from nowhere I swear!"

"Oh no," Lori gulped. She thought nobody had witnessed her transformation. She felt her anxiety raising. The rest of the Loud family watched, their fullest attention towards the screen.

"It was a young girl with blonde hair. She was the size of a pea!" the old man claimed, and just like that, Lori felt a wave of relief wash over her. The elder's broken glasses had left him with nothing but his terrible vision. "Next thing I know a weird jewel wrapped around her and she transformed to beat the monster! Just some common girl fighting to save us," the old man looked disappointed. He never got to thank the savior in his blurred image. "The monster turned into a powder of dust afterwards, it was really weird…"

The news report switched to a recording of the transformed Lori fighting Nabqa from an overhead security camera.

"Wow! Look at them go!" Lana said in awe.

"That outfit looks so beautiful," Lola commented, mesmerized by the armor of jewelry that dazzled with beauty.

"Dang! That kick was wicked," Luna smirked. The only thing that would have made the finisher better would have been one giant explosion that could rock the whole city block.

"Wonder why the giant cat was helping her…?" Lincoln pondered aloud, since it seemed like monsters would work together. He still seemed ecstatic knowing that this hero existed.

"She must be really _'bejeweling'_ to her enemies," Luan giggled.

"Please, stop…" Lynn Jr held her head. The pun ruined her enthusiasm in an instant.

While everyone talked amongst themselves, Lori got an idea from the names going about. " _Common fighter Jewel…_ " Lori hummed to herself,

 ** _"I like the sound of that."_**


	9. A Chance At The Truth

**_A/N: Just throwing this up here, hey all. I just wanted to say that I might not update for a week or so due to hurricane florence being on top of me soon, sorry about that. Enjoy._**

* * *

It had been two days since the existence of monsters and common fighter jewel were announced to Royal Woods as a whole, and the country at large. Lori spent those past two days recovering from her injuries. There was little she could do to stop her family from trying to wait on her hand and foot.

Lori steadily walked away from her room, making her way downstairs. Lisa had texted her to come see her. The eldest Loud felt far better than she did the other day, and her mood was in a state of joy.

"I said **NO!** " Lincoln's shout suddenly caught her attention, making her stop in place at his closed door. Lori raised an eyebrow. She wanted to open the door, but she stopped herself. Going into her only brothers room suddenly might be a bad idea in this case. She decided to lean against the door, pressing her ear against it to listen in on the noise in the room.

"Lincoln, will you relax? No one there will know who you are, and if I go alone, I'll look like a big loser!" Lynn Jr's voice spoke up. She sounded very desperate.

"Just drop it! You can find any boy to do this for you! I'm your brother! That's just… wrong!" Lincoln repeated himself. Lori raised an eyebrow, not sure what this conversation was about, but it sounded so weird.

"I'm not leaving until you say yes!" Lynn refused. Lori was debating on going in there right now.

"Fine… I'll go then," Lincoln scoffed after a pause between them, not wanting to physically fight with his slightly older sister. Lori quickly threw herself aside to hide as the door flew open. She watched as he stormed off in a huff. His face was red with disgust and lividity.

" _Wow… He was really angry…_ " Lori let out a relieved sigh, glad she did not get caught eavesdropping. "Lynn?" Lori peaked her head in the room. Lynn sat on her brother's bed, lost in her own thoughts.

" _Wuh?_ Oh, hey Lori…" Lynn Jr finally registered her oldest sister's presence as she stood there.

"What happened?" the secret hero asked her younger sibling. Lynn tended to get along well with him.

"Lincoln overreacted because I asked him to go to this party with me that I got invited to," the sports loving Loud claimed, sounding disheartened at their brother's reaction.

"Right… I know whenever I get unexpected party invitations I get angry," Lori was sarcastic. Lynn was purposefully leaving something out of the story, that much was obvious.

" _I…_ I asked him to go with me to pretend to be my date, because everyone there is practically married with how long they've been dating," Lynn claimed, looking a tad embarrassed at confessing this. It confused her oldest sister.

"Why'd that make him mad? Dad's had to take half of our family to their middle school proms," Lori stated, though she could only guess that it was just the wording that made Lincoln upset more than the idea itself. "Well, don't worry. Try talking to him some more when he gets home. He just needs to cool his head first," Lori reassured. She presumed that it was nothing serious. Lynn simply did not want to be judged for being a single in a party full of couples.

"Thanks, Lori…" Lynn sighed with a nod. Lori then left to get back to what she was doing, letting Lynn have some alone time. Lori did feel like she was still missing something.

* * *

 _"You certainly are the motherly type, aren't you?"_ Jundao's voice rang out from within Lori's head as she made her way downstairs.

"If you think I am, you should see Luna," the blonde woman responded casually. A lot of the older half of the Loud family had maternal aspects about them.

 _"You know that girl was holding back on revealing part of the truth to you, correct?"_ the white saber toothed tiger questioned his contract holder.

"Yeah, I know… but it's none of my business… At least for now," Lori sighed. It was hard for the loud family to stay out of each other's personal business for long, but it tended to be a good thing in their family, since without that nosiness, there would have been a few times where things got really bad if they had simply kept to themselves.

"Can we talk about something else? You never told me how you knew that monster we beat…" the blonde woman asked. She had been unable to think straight the last few days since she had been relaxing for the most part. She had this question running in her head since yesterday, now was a good enough time to ask she figured.

 _"I knew Nabqa prior to our worlds demise. He was once like me, before the crystals appeared in our world. Sadly, he was lost. He continued trying to aid others, despite it being impossible to stop, yet still refused to take care of himself,"_ Jundao sounded disappointed himself in the memories of it. Even the knowledge of knowing nothing could be done was doing little to ease his mind.

" _Oh…_ " Lori reacted solemnly. It was as tragic as it sounded. "I'm sorry about killing your friend… Even if it put him out of his misery, that didn't make it right," she mused. Just as she said so, Lori had arrived at the garage, but as she could see, Lisa was not there at the moment.

 _"It was our only option. That is what made it right… Nabqa died a long time ago. What we faced was a frenzied beast, nothing but a mere husk of what he once was,"_ the monster she was linked with stated, but it was clear that he was trying to divert any part of this conversation away from talk about his personal self. _"That is what life is when you want to live… Fighting to survive to see the next day, as long as there is something to fight for, no matter how small."_

Lori did not really have much of a reply to that. It made complete sense. She was still adjusting to knowing this described her life and wanting to live for her family now was her reason to keep fighting. But she then wondered, if his world was essentially destroyed, according to him, what did Jundao want to survive for?

"Apologies for the wait, Lori," Lisa entered the garage, drying her hands off with a small towel.

" _Oh… uh,_ don't worry about it. I was just talking with Jundao," Lori assured. Lisa went over and climbed back onto the stool in front of the workbench.

"I advise trying to keep those conversations in your head…" Lisa informed her oldest sister, "I don't think it would be wise to be seen conversing out loud to yourself, even if half of our family is subject to temporary bouts of psychosis when extremely stressed."

" _R-_ right…" Lori had a nervous smile. The toddler was far from wrong about that remark. "So, what is it you wanted? Did you figure out how long I have before the crystals start growing again?" the blonde teenager requested. If it was bad news, then she would rather know it as soon as possible. She knew it was only a matter of time before the crystals infecting her started forming again.

"I summoned you here for two reasons. Your health condition indeed is one," Lisa showed her laptop which displayed the many scans she had done on her oldest sister's body during their exam the other day. "If my studying of the scans, as well as my research on the organic and mineral hybrid gem I took from your hand when you were first infected is correct, I have an accurate time frame for how long you have before your health is at risk," she put her laptop aside to answer her anxious sister.

"Six days. It seems that when you cure the infection temporarily, it lasts up to eight days. Perhaps with luck and in due time, your body will build up a natural immunity to it… but the odds of that are very slim," Lisa finished. She sounded assuring since eight days was plenty of time to find another core crystal shard to keep the infection cleansed. She assumed Jundao was on the same time frame as the one he was linked with.

"That's great, Lisa!" Lori smiled, hugging her sister tightly with her arms, unable to contain her excitement. Lisa did not share the sentiment. She would be happier if she had been able to find a cure instead, but medicine did not work that way sadly.

"I do not see what is great about this situation whatsoever…" the glasses wearing Loud muttered, but she guessed that knowing how long they had between the practical treatment was a good first step. The prodigy broke the embrace, letting her oldest sibling watch as she then pulled a security box out from the desk and started unlocking it, though it took a while due to the three code lock combinations that it had. "Have you felt fearful at all? As in unreasonably scared?" she asked.

"Not at all. Why?" Lori answered. She had been feeling more than happy these last few days, but she knew that was probably just due to the near death experience she had.

"After further research, I've found that there's side effects from a fracture suddenly appearing," the child super genius claimed. She had discovered this correlation from what she read in the many documents and how the multiple cases were linked together subtlety yet were dismissed as natural reactions.

"Like what?" Lori quirked. She recalled how she felt when she was first infected. She would never be able to forget it, but she would do her best to not have it happen again.

"Most living things have a form of sixth sense that triggers when something in their environment changes drastically without warning…" Lisa explained, "A fracture causes immense fear in a very small radius around where one appears. That is why you had been so scared when you first got infected."

"But I didn't feel scared when I opened those fractures when summoning my weapons or armor…" Lori pointed out, though she was afraid that she was scaring people internally just by fighting now.

"Exactly," Lisa nodded, "From what I've researched, your body has quickly adjusted due to the link you've formed with Jundao… do not worry about causing public discourse, because the affective area is very small with the average fracture. The ones you created are far smaller than that, so they most likely have no range at all."

" _…Wait…_ " Lori suddenly had something click in her brain. "Luna said Sam was being paranoid and scared for no reason the other day… _do you think…?_ " Lori realized that things might not be as simple as being scared of the trouble happening in Royal Woods scaring Luna's best friend.

"It is entirely feasible that a fracture opened up near Sam… We should indeed investigate this," the child prodigy nodded, agreeing that it might be far worse than they knew it could be. "Before you go, I wanted to show you this," Lisa presented the now open briefcase. Two sealed drivers were resting inside.

"Drivers? You actually did it! Wow… why'd you make two though?" Lori questioned. She found it amazing, but she was afraid to touch them in case they turned into queen drivers as well.

"I wanted to see if I was able to replicate the parts needed on my own, I'm happy to know that I indeed am capable of this... However, I had to consult alchemy books from the seventeenth century, but it worked… creating these was very interesting to say the least," the child genius smiled, looking proud to have gotten them done, even if she seemed exhausted. She locked the new sealed drivers back in the case.

"Well, you need to get some sleep. I'm going to go check up on Sam and Luna," Lori stated, hoping it would be easy. Luna was supposed to be with Sam today and she had taken Lily with her to try to get their youngest sister's adorable charm to help make the drummer relax. The blonde teen ran off, wanting to make sure that they all were safe.

"I'd prefer to do more researching for the time being," Lisa shook her head.

A silent hum from outside the house came from a man. Out of the prodigy's eyesight, a small tube was snaked along the floor into the nearby vent, behind the many piles of items in the garage.

 _"Sorry about this, little Lisa,"_ the man was feeding the tube inside of the vent, the whole Loud house was oblivious as a clear gas was getting pumped into the ventilation system.

* * *

Later in the day, in another part of town, here was a small construction site for a new store. It was temporarily delayed in the opening. Upstairs rested a man with smoky brown hair. A dozen golden rings were worn on his two hands. " _ **Gah…**_ It's not healing…" he panted, seated on the floor and leaned back against the wall. He was looking at his right hand. His fist had been burnt so much that it left two of his rings fused together from the intensity.

He remembered that golden mask. "What was that thing?" He pondered. The crackling flames and the rocks that were within that creature's heart, it was like a nightmare permanently burned into his memory.

 **"Kess Ando,"** someone called out, startling the attorney onto his feet. He had nowhere to run. The only door was being blocked by the fancily dressed man. Kurutta stepped out from the shadows of the doorway. The only source of light was coming from between the cracks of the boarded windows.

" _N-_ no, _I'm…_ I'm just a bum… I was trying to find a place to stay a while…" Kess stuttered.

"Nope. You're Kess Ando, marriage lawyer and murderer at large," the government agent stated, fixed the feather boa around his neck. The suspected killer did not know how to reply. "I'm Kurutta, you can relax. I'm not a cop… I work for the governments newest branch," Kurutta introduced himself. Announcing that he was not a cop was meaningless, considering what he said immediately after.

Kess backed away, looking around for an escape route. "I told them I didn't kill her! They won't listen to me! Because half the police force in this damn town were clients of mine at one point or another!"

"Police are a drag, aren't they?" Kuratta replied, holding his chin, "You've already been convicted before questioning alone… guilty until proven innocent is the new trend in this ages justice," the black-haired man took a few steps toward the terrified lawyer.

"A lot of them don't care about you or your wife. They just want easy paychecks at the end of it all," he stretched, putting his hands behind his head, leaning back on the nearby counter. "Then again, running away like you did was stupid. You lost whatever chance you had to get people to believe you."

"Be quiet," the suspected murderer began gritting his teeth, "I was the fairest lawyer in the world… I even gave my clients a way to reduce their fees… yet, here I am anyway. No one, now even the people I helped, cared," Kess held his head, slowly crumpling back into the floor, sobbing silently. "They didn't just murder my wife and frame me… They made the woman I loved a display show for every hungry media leech in this town!" he screamed like he no longer could hold his own fury back anymore.

"What would you do if I gave you a chance to find this killer… and the first clue to find out who she is?" Kurutta showed that smug grin, gaining the down on his luck man's attention.

" _ **She…?**_ " Kess focused on that word specifically.

"Your wife was dead, long before she was made into a freak show, by poison," continued Kuratta. He had seen enough readings from the autopsy report to know that. "Now answer me, do you want a chance to get the loon that did this and clear your name?" Kurutta reached into his vest and pulled out a sealed driver, holding it with his one hand, waving it like a personal prize.

Kess stood up, taking the sealed driver. "What can that thing do for me?"

Right on cue, they began to hear the sounds of crackling flames, the noise all too familiar to the lawyer.

"It can help you find the culprit, and to protect yourself. I even baited along a friend for you," the black-haired agent hummed. The doorway was burning brightly now. A creature stepped in behind them.

" **Th…the monster from the apartment?!** " Kess stepped back in terror. The monster was composed of fire. There was an odd heavily detailed golden mask on its face, which had a bright grin carved over it. The mask was cracked heavily across it from where he had broken it, with crystals growing from the creatures side. The lawyer backed away from the monster he had punched days ago, terrified. " **Wh-who are you?!** "

"I'm the man trying to give you a second chance. Will you take it?" Kurutta questioned, as the flames began to slowly take over the room. They would be standing in an ocean of fire in under a minute at this rate. The monster reached out, holding the bright red crystal core shard in its blazing hand. Clearly offering him to take it.

The suspected criminal was terrified. He looked down to the floor biting his lip. " _…Fine…_ " Kess began to reach his hand back at the blazing creature. "I'll do it!" He gripped the creature's hand. The intense heat burned his palm, sending pain up through his entire arm.

The sealed driver began to glow brightly, and then it began to change shape. Parts of it cracked off, revealing a black driver with a more oval shape to it and buttons on each side.

Kurutta watched with a grin on his face, beginning to make his leave as the smoke-filled room, with seeming content with the results. Things were about to get a lot more interesting in this town now.

 _ **"Things are about to get interesting..."**_


	10. Fear?

"Come on, Sam, talk to me," Luna spoke up. Here she was, sitting in Sam's living room with Lily in her lap. The similarly aged drummer, recognizable by her messy blonde hair and blue streak, sat across from the aspiring rock star.

"I'm sorry Luna, I just… I don't have the muse in me to keep up to the rhythm," Sam mused. Luna's plan to bring her baby sister along to take advantage of her adorable charm failed to help in the situation.

"That's not just something you lose, Sam, and you know that! Does this have to do with your folks being out of town for the month?" the rock loving Loud sister requested, setting Lily down to let her play with some of the toys she had brought along.

"No, you know that I never cared much for visiting the rest of my family. It's been really nice to have the place to myself," the drummer claimed, though with the aura of hesitation and doubt surrounding her, she showed that she wanted to be anything but alone at the moment.

"We have a chance at a future in the music world… Are you really going to let it slip by us because you're scared?" Luna knew it sounded rude, but she was in disbelief now. How else could she word it? A tense silence filled in the air of the room now aside from Lily's babbling.

The silence was broken when they suddenly heard a frantic knocking at the door.

"Would you get that, please?" Sam requested, taking the opportunity to escape the argument. Luna wanted to counter, but she huffed silently. She got up from their seat and went to the door.

"Lori?" the guitarist Loud quirked an eyebrow, seeing her oldest sister standing there looking worried.

"Hey Luna, where's Lily and Sam?" Lori stepped inside, quickly becoming relieved to see the two safe.

"Abura goo," Lily cooed, reaching up toward her oldest sister, looking very happy to see her practical second mother.

"Oh, hey Lori…" Sam half-heartedly greeted the firstborn Loud sister. She wondered if Luna brought her oldest over as well for this topic, and why. She could not think of what that did to help matters.

"Is everything alright?" Lori asked.

"Yes, everything's fine…" Sam was obviously trying to lie out of this.

"No, nothing is fine! Sam here wants to give up something she loves, for no reason!" Luna argued, her arms crossed. She wanted Lori's help to convince the drummer against this decision, at least now that she was here. Lori was now starting to register what she had walked in on. That, she did not plan on. She let out a weary sigh. She was stuck here, but something felt wrong to her.

"Why won't you just tell me what's wrong, Sam? I can help you!" Luna continued. Controlling her emotions was impossible now. Lori picked up Lily. The infant seemed content due to being used to constant loud noises. The drummer seemed to be at her wit's end now.

"Luna, you don't care about me! You just want _ **YOUR**_ future!" Sam turned to Lori, "Talk some sense into her, she's just been on repeat ever since she walked in through the door."

Luna wanted to retort, but Lori grabbed her shoulder to stop her. "You two have to relax! Do you want my honest opinion?" the secret superhero sounded begrudging about offering this. But if she stood around and did nothing, then her sibling's relationship would be destroyed, they both nodded, more than glad to listen. Lori took a deep breath. "I think you're both being idiots."

" **What?!** " Luna growled, yet Sam remained quiet.

"Luna, you're trying to force her into what she normally loves doing for fun. You know that if something changes from a hobby to a job, it's not a hobby anymore," the oldest loud sister began by focusing the conversation on Luna at first before turning her attention to Sam. "And Sam, you're shutting everyone that cares about you… there are plenty of people willing to help you as long as you talk. You can't blame Luna for being upset when she just wants to help you. One of you is coming off as selfish out of worry, and the other's coming off as a quitter out of fear. You're destroying yourselves and each other."

The drummer and guitarist looking to each other before their gazes fell to the floor. " _…oh._ "

"…Luna, I need to talk to you," the teenage blonde insisted, ushering Luna out the door so they could talk outside, with Lily in her other arm. Luna did not fight back. Lori did have a good point that proved both the normally calm durmmer and the aspiring rock star also wrong.

* * *

Lori had spent the next couple of minutes explaining to Luna the situation, to the best of her ability, without giving her secret identity away or bringing up the fact a monster might be around. Luna was seated on the passenger seat of Vanzilla with Lily in her lap as she listened in to the rest of the story.

" _So…_ Lisa thinks that something's forcing Sam to be scared?" Luna asked after she had broken it down into a simple sentence.

"Yeah. The problem is that what caused it should have worn off eventually… but since it hasn't, she thinks that something is still in or close to her home," Lori claimed. She sounded regretful for having to tell her younger sibling this at all. It might explain the irrational fear Sam had, but that did not make it any easier to handle the news.

"Is it the same thing that's made you act so different lately?" Luna replied. Lori was uncertain with how to answer. She had no real clue herself.

" _I…_ I don't know honestly…" she said, trying to sound serious, "You and Lily should go home."

"I can't just leave Sam here alone…! What'll you do?" Luna asked. She could see how her oldest sister was holding back from telling her the whole truth, Luna presumed that it was because of it being worse than she made it out to be.

"I'm gonna spy on her, of course," Lori answered without skipping a beat. That was all she could really do to make sure that the drummer was safe. Watching Sam alone might make her lower her guard enough to lead her to the source of her fear.

"Who are you and what did you do with Lori?" Luna jokingly demanded. Lily giggled in her lap, clapping happily.

Lori rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I'm not that much different than I was a week ago."

"Are you serious? A week ago, you were a bigger brat than Lola could be. Now you're acting like an adult. For the first time in my life, I haven't seen you with your eyes glued on your phone, it's like you're a whole new person." Luna stated, finding that alone a miraculous statement. The former phone addicted Loud was so different now that it still worried a lot of their family, despite her assurances.

"I guess it's because… I see the world a lot more clearly now. It's like I'm looking through a crystal," Lori replied. Ever since she was first infected the world felt a lot brighter to her. She had no idea why, though the feelings of despair she felt at first were more than genuine, but she believed, they had changed into strength.

"I want to stay and make sure Sam's safe," Luna countered. Lori was annoyed. If something was wrong, then she would not be able to transform in front of Luna.

"Okay, I'll make you a deal… you take Lily home, so she'll be out of the way, and you can come right back to stay here with me, okay?" Lori offered a compromise. The aspiring rock star paused for a moment to think, looking down to their baby sister.

"Goo goo," Lily cooed with that heart-warming smile of hers. Luna sighed.

"Alright… I don't want Lily to get bored to sleep by playing spy with us," the guitarist agreed, since she did not know how long it would take, and that was assuming that they found anything.

"Thanks, Luna. Text me when you're on the way back," Lori smiled, pulling the keys to the family van from her pocket before turning them over to her rock loving sister.

" _Uh…_ I only have my permit though…" Luna reminded hesitantly. Her blonde sister rolled her eyes.

"You still drive better than Leni. Just relax and you'll be fine," Lori claimed. Luna was going to get her official license in a couple weeks. Luna put it off for a few months to focus on other important things at the time.

"Alright, alright… anything for Sam…" Luna took in a breath before going to get Lily strapped into her car seat. Lori let out a relieved sigh, glad that she came when she did. Otherwise there might have been a quarrel between the drummer and the guitarist.

 _"I guess now all I have to do is watch Sam from afar…"_ Lori held her chin, not paying much attention as the family van began to drive away from the small home.

* * *

Lori kept close to the outside of Sam's building, so she could peek inside through the windows when she needed to. She had been at this for over an hour now, and so far, there had been no sign of anything interesting. She started to wonder where Luna was. She should have been back a while ago.

"Can you sense anything, Jundao?" Lori spoke aloud to the open air, beginning to dig around in her pockets, she was settled outside of Sam Sharp's home, still sticking close to the building so she could stay out of sight.

 _"Not anymore… I gave up that ability when we formed our link, my queen,"_ Jundao responded. The oldest Loud sister guessed that his link was the reason her senses were now higher than before.

"Everybody has to make sacrifices for survival… right?" Lori replied light heartedly. She pulled out the colorless triangle from her pocket. She'd taken it with her as a good luck charm this morning.

 _"That is correct…"_ his voice said in her head, but he let out a curious hum when he saw what she held through her own vision. _"You carry an empty jewel?"_ Jundao asked. He saw no reason for her to have this on her person at all.

"My boyfriend gave me a few, including yours. I got infected by a crystal fragment hiding inside the box they came in," Lori explained while she looked it over. She had urge to carry one when she woke up this morning. They were like good luck charms to her.

 _"These are something that only ancient alchemists could craft in my world… You truly are a queen with connections of this strength,"_ Jundao claimed. The blonde Loud sister wanted to continue the train of discussion, but then she noticed something inside the living room.

"Wait, something's going on…" Lori insisted Jundao remain quiet, as if forgetting he was not physically beside her.

* * *

Sam entered the living room from the kitchen. She was stepping in, as she did she felt something grab her by the shoulder, making her almost jump in terror.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" The drummer turned around. A monster twice her size stood there. Looking to be like a gargoyle come to life. Parts of its scaly wings were covered with the infectious crystals.

"Skiana souo?" The gargoyle spoke with a light voice. His yellow and red trimmed scales almost shimmered under the light of the room.

"Yeah, yeah, the soup's about ready… Pelacur, I told you I'd bring it when it was done. What if someone saw you?" Sam asked. She was not able to understand the creature's language, but with minor gestures, then she understood what he wanted exactly. Pelacur had been staying with her for a good while.

" _Garagala, atane lifs,_ " there was regret in the creature's tone of voice. He reached up to her face, running his hand along her cheek.

Sam let out a sigh before gaining a smile on her face. "You're too nice to be mad at," she hugged the gargoyle.

"Sam!" The front door suddenly flew open. Lori called out to her. The drummer stood wide eyed. The eldest Loud charged quickly, jumping up and kicking Pelacur in the side of his chest, making him stumble away.

" _ **Lori?** **!**_ What are you doing here?" Sam asked in shock.

" ** _Get…_ away from her!**" Pelacur snarled while standing up.

"I can understand him… that means he's not crazy?" Lori thought, finding this odd.

 _"It doesn't matter. Kill him and she shall return to normal,"_ Jundao assured through his contract holder's mind. The oldest Loud sibling pulled out her queen driver.

"Wait, stop!" Sam stepped between the two before they could begin fighting. Pelacur looked more upset than angry.

"What? Sam, get out of the way! He's dangerous!" Lori ordered. Protecting Luna's best friend was a bigger priority than caring about revealing her identity, if it meant saving her from this monsters grasp.

"I can't! If you hurt him, I'll never forgive you or Luna for putting you up to this!" Sam shouted back. Lori was even more confused.

" _But why…?_ " Lori was in disbelief. "Don't tell me you made a contract with him…" she murmured. Luna would be crushed if she heard as well.

"I didn't," Sam replied sternly. Pelacur stepped up behind the drummer, she rubbed his injury where he had been kicked to try and make it feel better.

 _ **"He saved my life. That's why I'm protecting him."**_


	11. Discussion

Lincoln sauntered around through another part of Royal Woods. It was a means for him to try and clear his head. He currently was conversing on the phone, ignoring the early afternoon sun above him.

"I don't know, man… are you sure you aren't just being paranoid?" Clyde asked over the phone.

"I thought I was until today. Lynn hunted down and stole that party invite from someone else's trash can! That's why she barely knows anyone who'll be going to the party," Lincoln complained while he walked the calm streets. His anger from before had at least vanished, except now he felt more upset with himself than anything. He was uncertain if all this was his own fault, or if it was someone else's fault.

"Wait, how do you know she stole it from someone's garbage?" Clyde asked, turning the television off to focus more on the phone call.

"Rusty and his little brother saw her doing it while they were riding bikes," he answered. His friend at least informed him of this, he thanked them for it, yet his fears were confirmed because of it unfortunately.

" _So…_ it's true then, huh? Lynn really wants to be more than just a sister to you," Clyde spoke his thoughts aloud. He could practically hear his friend's upset confusion taking him over.

"Yeah…" Lincoln huffed, hanging his head, "The worst part is that Lisa warned me about this kind of thing, she said that might happen when I turned thirteen…"

"Maybe you should indulge Lynn a li'l bit? Maybe she'll realize she's crazy if you play along a little while," Clyde suggested with a light laugh. Except treating this as a joke did nothing to lighten the mood, and despite the risk he thought it was far away from being worth a try.

"I'm hanging up now," huffed Lincoln.

"Come on man, _I-!_ "

Lincoln hung up. He rolled his eyes. He couldn't take his problems getting laughed at, especially right now. He felt stuck in a sense. This happened a lot both inside and outside of his family. Normally he could brush it off as the seriousness of the problems taking a while to set in, recently however, he was starting to reach his wit's end with it.

His phone rang again before he could pocket it. With a more upbeat tone this time. He looked at it. He lightly laughed. Lincoln swore his girlfriend just knew whenever he was upset. He accepted the call. "Hey, Ronnie Anne," he greeted in his half glum tone, bringing the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Lame-o. I call at a bad time?" Ronnie Anne Santiago chimed up. She had been dating him secretly for a long time now. Though the secrecy was not by choice. It was the only way to avoid meddling from the many sisters of Lincoln's. Only Lori and Bobby knew, their eldest siblings respectively.

" _No…_ I'm just doing nothing," Lincoln replied. Their relationship had become long distance when the Santiagos moved away, though it started off with her bullying him to show her affection, it had blossomed as fast as a sunflower. "Everything okay there?" he asked her, moving away from the topic about him. He'd rather not bother her with his personal problems. He knew she wouldn't like what she'd hear anyway.

"Yeah, I'm doing great…" Ronnie Anne breathed in, " _Bobby on the other hand…_ " the Santiago couldn't put this to words. Something of course was wrong with him, but she needed to figure out how to describe it first.

"Did he get hurt on the job again?" Lincoln chirped. Bobby was like a brother to him. He knew it was far from unusual for him to get hurt at work, especially when he always had about a dozen jobs he handled daily.

"No… he's depressed. Lori's been ducking his calls and it's starting to get to him a lot," Ronnie Anne explained her older brother's problem. "Do you know what's going on? Has Lori been acting weird lately?" she then asked. The only Loud brother paused for a moment.

"She… kinda has. Lori's been so much kinder than usual lately. She's been way happier in the last week than she has been in the last few months. I've never seen her like this before. She acts more like mom now, too." Lincoln answered. At first, he brushed it off as his lack of sleep due to Lily keeping him up late was making him imagine things. But now that the rest of his family was noticing Lori's sudden change, he knew it was slightly alarming.

"Didn't she force you to stop hanging out with my brother just because she was jealous?" Ronnie Anne reminded him. Lincoln breathed in. That was another bad moment in his history he did not need to be reminded of.

"I didn't need that reminder… But maybe… Maybe she feels guilty about something," Lincoln took a seat at a bench beside a bus stop. The white haired boy knew that compensating for guilt sometimes turned into constant acts of kindness, though not knowing the possible cause of said guilt was a worrisome thought

"…You don't think she's pregnant, do you?" Ronnie Anne suggested. That idea surprised her boyfriend.

" _ **Whaa-?**_ No way! The last time she even saw Bobby was… a month ago…" his eyes went wide as the dots now began to connect in his head. The older six Loud siblings had seen their mother go through so many running emotions in her last few pregnancies. He did see a constant aura of happiness when she conceived Lily. He wondered if it was just another case of that, but this time with Lori.

"Sorry I uh... Hello?" Lincoln spoke again once his surprise wore off, but as he then noticed, his phone lost connection to the signal. It confused him. It couldn't easily lose connection in this kind of place. He breathed out an annoyed sigh and put his phone away for now. He needed a moment to take in this revelation.

As he sat and thought, however, he suddenly felt an odd chill run down his spine, and a sense of fear begin to well up in him. It wasn't cold outside. He could not understand why he was starting to feel so strange. Until he looked behind himself.

 ** _"What the…?"_**

* * *

Lori was seated on the couch in Sam's living room. Pelacur sat across her on another chair, eating from a very large bowl of soup. He was practically drinking it with how he was consuming it.

 _"Is your world's cuisine this delicious?"_ Jundao questioned in Lori's mind. The tiger sounded slightly jealous of what he's possibly missed out on. Anything was better than eating rocks.

 _"Yeah, but usually the canned stuff's just okay,"_ Lori rallied her thoughts back to him, trying to keep these talks in her head like Lisa had suggested.

Sam returned, carrying two cans of soda for them both. _"So…_ you're really that common fighter person?" Sam decided to start the conversation. The queen driver Lori had pulled out was a dead giveaway to that identity since the news footage at one point even focused on the jewel encrusted golden belt.

"Yeah, it's a long story," the blonde teenage chuckled, rubbing her head nervously. She knew the drummer was good with secrets, but that did not make her feel any more relaxed.

"And you can talk to monsters?" Sam then asked.

"I'm linked with one. Because of it I'm able to understand their language… at least the ones that aren't out of their minds," Lori nodded, grateful for this gift Jundao had inadvertently granted her. She found it so sudden that it was a little hard to adjust, even after the last week.

"Lucky you… I'd kill to be able to understand Pelacur. It feels like a guessing game half the time," Sam stated while resting her head in her hand while her arm rested on the armrest. It was not hard though to find out what her gargoyle friend wanted. He tended to be so direct yet gentle in his actions.

"Can you tell me how you two met?" Lori requested. She was very curious how exactly this monster saved the drummer's life.

"Oh, sure!" Sam nodded. She was a lot more relaxed to explain now that her secret was discovered. "I was going home after one of the practice sessions with Luna. I always go through a place that had the construction put on hold because it saves me some time," Sam started. It was a week ago, but it felt like years ago to her due to how shocking that night had been.

"Uhuh…" Lori nodded as she stayed quiet and listened. Although Luna being mentioned made her wonder again where her younger sister was.

"I dunno… I guess it was bad luck," Sam delayed as she tried to put this to words. She wasn't sure if it was good or bad luck that their meeting happened. "A steel beam fell from up high. I froze on the spot… next thing I know, he's standing there like a statue and took the hit for me. It didn't do anything to him but break a few scales, either."

"I had the strongest scales in my whole family," Pelacur laid down the now empty bowl. Soup was on his chin. The drummer tried to clean him up with a hand towel that she had brought as well.

"Thanks for saving her… My sister would be ruined if something happened to Sam," Lori thanked the gargoyle. Despite his scary and sturdy appearance, he seemed very soft hearted.

"You said you're linked with a monster? Where is he?" Sam asked. She wondered if that creature Lori had was hidden somewhere nearby.

"Jundao's still in the world they came from. He's waiting for me to summon him like… some sort of queen," Lori tried to explain it in the simplest way she could understand it, though referring to herself like she was royalty made her feel embarrassed.

" _Our world…. We have no world left…_ " Pelacur solemnly commented.

"What did he say?" Sam asked Lori to translate.

"He said there was nothing left of their world. The crystals are on every one of those monsters. They spread overtime, and the only way to cure it is with the core crystal fragment from another monster," Lori exclaimed. She could tell that Sam was doing her best to take care of the creature, but this infection was impossible to stop with the current medicinal technology according to Lisa.

"…What happens if it isn't cured?" Sam hesitated to ask. Lori paused for a moment, unsure if she should tell. In which case, she had to. Lying was causing far more problems than solving lately.

"They lose their minds… I'm infected with the same crystals, and if me or Jundao don't get core shards, I'll die," Lori spoke with a clear serious tone. She was trusting Sam to keep so much of this between them. A tense silence entered the room's atmosphere.

Which was then broken when her phone started ringing. Lori sighed, hoping that it wasn't Bobby calling right now. It was not a good time. On the screen however, Lisa's avatar showed. "Hello?" Lori answered her little sister's call, letting Sam take in the news that her new friend was doomed to a slow descent to insanity at best.

" **Lori!** Where are you right now?!" Lisa sounded panicked. The anger blended in her voice startled Lori.

" _I-_ I'm at Sam's! What's going on, Lisa?" Lori requested, trying to get her second youngest sister to relax.

"They're gone! The sealed drivers were stolen!"

" _ **What?!**_ " Lori's eyes practically broke out of her sockets. "But how?!"

"Someone pumped a sleeping gas into our home's ventilation system! When I woke up, the case was gone!" Lisa was trying to remain calm. Yet she still sounded upset like any toddler would if something they cherished was stolen from them.

"Is everyone okay?" Lori asked. Family to her was more important than the drivers. Since they could always make more of those things, according to Lisa.

"Yes, the gas has no toxin to it… at most, they'll all brush it off as tiredness. I woke up as soon as I did Because Luna opened the door to the garage," Lisa claimed, her anger starting to at least fade. Luna and Lily fell asleep themselves though when they had gone to the living room. The rock star could never come back to aid Lori's spy task as result of this forced slumber. "I've already called Kurutta to let him know what happened."

"I'll come home right now," Lori got up from the couch.

"I did not just call to inform you of this... A monster has appeared as well! It's at a sunset hotel near where you are… it's another form of creature, though."

" _Wait…_ another form of monster?" Lori asked. She was torn between hunting the monster or going home to make sure everyone was alright.

"It's a monster made entirely of fire… It's truly fascinating… I'm afraid if the creature is not defeated the fire will only intensify."

"A monster made out of fire? That sounds like something out of my league..." Lori murmured, clearly wanting to come home to make sure everyone was safe first.

"I can take care of the others. You go secure this core shard and let me examine it before you use it," Lisa ended the phone call abruptly. Her mental limit was too broken to argue with her.

"Sorry Sam, I have to go," Lori put her phone away and began to head for the door.

" _W-_ wait!" Sam stood up, "You won't tell anyone about this… right? I'd rather Luna think I'm a chicken than worry about a monster living with me."

"I couldn't care, even if I wanted to. Just, talk to Luna already. Call me if something happens," Lori ran out the door, leaving the drummer with the gargoyle monster.

"Souaka?" Pelacur chirped, holding up the bowl.

Sam sighed, overwhelmed by the wave of news she had been given in the last few minutes.

 ** _"Yeah, yeah, I'll get you more soup…"_**


	12. Fire Rescue

**A/N: Hey all, JAP-TW here... I wanted to just apologize to you all, in case you were not enjoying this story. I've gotten various DMs telling me a whole mix of things, and frankly I just feel terrible for being a let down if I have been. I hope you all enjoy, sorry again.**

* * *

The last past hour was spent running, with barely even a moment to slow down. Lori felt no energy left in her. " _Haah…_ I think I need a second…" she panted.

 _"I don't think a queen should be running on foot everywhere…"_ Jundao commented, sounding disappointed that they could not kill Pelacur and take his core crystal fragment for themselves.

"It was faster than running home!" Lori replied in between her panting for breath. She started to realize how having one car for their family was a problem. She couldn't keep stealing it for her own personal use, especially if she did not want to draw suspicion to herself from her many siblings.

Lori saw the smoke in the air of the nearby distance. She continued forth, ignoring her legs and lungs there were begging her to take it easy.

* * *

When the common fighter arrived at the destination, she saw a large fire seeming to erupt from every floor of the sunset hotel. The blazes were furiously brewing throughout the building. The many firefighters were using every little thing they could to tame the fire.

 _"This definitely is the work of another monster…"_ Jundao said in his contract holder's head, watching her as she pulled out the queen driver. She held it to her waist and let the belt shoot out only to reattach to the other end of the driver.

 **"Drivah ready!"** the driver chimed energetically.

 _"You'd risk transforming out here?"_ the white tiger monster questioned, watching Lori take out the blue crystal sphere, looking at it in her palm.

"If I want to be able to hunt down monsters, I need to have it so that the public aren't in my way, right?" the blonde girl asked aloud, staring at her own reflection in the item that linked her with Jundao.

 _"The hunt can be easier with less people in our path,"_ the crystal infected creature answered, watching as she put the crystal ball into the opening of her belt, watching it take it in and close.

The queen driver began to sing with the beat. _ **"Gotta be ready to transform! Gotta be ready to transform! Gotta be ready to transform!"**_

"Then that means we have to become heroes in their eyes. We can do two things at once here," Lori rose her arms up and crossed them. Jundao thought on this for a moment before sighing.

 _"A benevolent queen… very well. If it is for our survival, I see no reason to doubt your decision."_

"I'm glad you do…" she grinned. **"Transform!"** she spun the dial on the side of the belt, watching as the crystal sphere split into multiple pieces and entered the queen driver's empty spots.

 **" _Queen?_ Ready!"** the queen driver called out as the white suit appeared on Lori. A fracture appeared from behind, revealing the large ball that wrapped around her to make her armor.

 **"The regal retaliation! _Queen!_ "** Lori took that as her go signal and began to run for the burning building. The people she ran by were shocked to see the common fighter jewel there. She ignored all the warnings of the firefighters that hit her ears and made her way into the sunset hotel.

* * *

In the lobby of the hotel, she saw a burning wooden beam in the way. She hit one of the buttons on the queen driver.

 **"Yes queen! _Weapon!_ "** the driver called out, making her bladed bow come flying out from a small fracture. Lori caught it while she ran. She smiled, confident that she was getting the hang of this whole transforming deal.

The young hero swung upwards, slashing through the burning beam with a blue streak of energy from her bladed bow, breaking the burning wood to several dozen pieces.

"I'm not as tired anymore… that's weird…" Lori started to head upstairs to the next floor. The stairwell was at least clear.

 _"In this form our traits are combined. As well as our energy. It's why your senses have become heightened, ever since we became linked,"_ Jundao explained. She was more or less using his energy now in place for her missing stamina, aside from the ever-growing adrenaline. Lori was glad to have the white sabertooth's help.

They made their way to the second floor. The fire was worsening from there that even the fire escape was far beyond consideration.

 **"Help!"** she heard multiple voices calling out with an echo to them. Lori saw the elevator nearby. The voices were coming from there. She approached and hammered on the metal door with her fist.

"Someone's there!"

"Hey! Get us outta here!"

"Please! We can't breathe!" the three voices confirmed they were behind that door.

"Step back!" Lori called to them. She raised her arm up, and swung downward, slashing the center of the metallic dark, causing sparks to fire off from the impact sight. She kept slashing several times over until the door's center opened wide enough for her to stick her weapon between the gap. **" _Come…on…!_ "** Lori gritted her teeth, trying to use the bladed bow like a makeshift crowbar to slowly pry the door open.

 _"I feel as if our worlds have different definitions of what a weapon is…"_ Jundao mused. His bow was misused again! At least it was sturdy enough to take the abuse, but that did not make it any better to him.

After enough effort, Lori pried the elevator doors open enough to get her hands between to push them the rest of the way, with some help of the people trapped inside.

"Thank you!" One man panted, climbing out from the stuck elevator before turning around to help the other two out. The people she saved seemed shocked to see common fighter jewel be their savior.

" _Wow…_ out of everyone to save me, I didn't think it'd be the common fighter herself…" the other woman commented in amazement. The heroine picked her weapon back up, nervously chuckling at the praise she was given.

"Just get outside. The lobby's clear and the stairwell's fine," Lori insisted. Two of the people nodded, immediately making leave to escape the burning building.

"This fire happened from nowhere…" the last person spoke to her, "It was like someone doused the fire escapes in gasoline! Please, help get anyone else out that you can," the person then ran off to catch up to the others too. Lori took in a breath and exhaled, knowing that she had her work cut out for her.

"At least the helmet makes it easier to breathe," the blonde girl thought on the bright side.

 _"It won't keep it that way forever. Let's waste no time and find the monster,"_ Jundao spoke. Lori nodded, taking a moment to confirm that second floor was cleared of any people in danger.

Oblivious to her and her partner, however, somebody watched from the flames as the Loud continued up to the next floor.

* * *

On the third floor, Lori could see another person trapped in a burning circle. A side draft from some of the hotel rooms had burst out the doors around him, making it impossible to get out without burning himself alive.

" _He-_ hey! Is someone there?! Help me out here, please!" the man called out to her. She saw the fire extinguisher lying nearby. She could not get to the other staircase with the ocean of flames in the way.

But then she had an idea, smiling as she thought it up. Despite the stress, her mind felt so clear that she wondered why. She grabbed the fire extinguisher with her one free hand, winding back her arm before throwing the bright red cylinder into the air above the man.

"Cover your eyes!" Lori shouted aiming her bow and pulling the strings. The energy swelled to the center to create the arrow. The man obediently crouched down and held his head, making sure his gaze was fixed to the ground.

She let go of the string's handle. The arrow flew down the hall, impaling the fire extinguisher, puncturing its metal shell. Foam began to hiss out of it. After another second, it suddenly exploded, coating the entire surrounding hallway in a white thin mist and putting out the fire in an instant.

"Oh, thanks so much for the save!" the young man stepped over to the disguised Loud now that the fire was put out. "You're Common Fighter Jewel… wow… can I touch you?"

She was caught off guard by that question. " _Suuuuurreee….?_ " she reluctantly agreed. The man did not hesitate to begin feeling the gem armor on top of the snow white suit she wore.

 _"Your world's inhabitants are far more physical in their interactions…"_ Jundao mused. The nerve of him to feel up his linked person and her just letting him.

 _"There're creepos everywhere in the world. It sucks,"_ Lori mentally replied, holding her head and sighing.

"I've never felt something so smooth like this before…" the man she saved muttered. He felt the hero grab his shirt before beginning to drag him to the stairs.

"Okay, you've pushed the awkward limit. Get outta here, I have people to save and therapy to consider," Lori ordered the man, and she chucked him down the steps.

"Thank youuu!" he cried out, his voice echoing as he tumbled down the steps. Common Fighter Jewel took a moment to regain her composure before they went back to rescuing people.

* * *

Another run later, Lori could soon hear crying coming from behind one of the doors. She saw fire blocking the way down the hall.

 _"These compact homes have balconies. You can use them to get around,"_ Jundao stated. He had noticed this when they were entering.

"Just gotta avoid slipping or I'll fall three stories down!" Lori responded. She did not know how well the suit would protect her from large falls, but there was a child in danger and she had no options.

The secret hero stepped back to one of the prior doors, slashing the handle with her bladed bow before kicking the door and toppling it inward. The room was nearly crackling with embers. Lori ran out to the balcony, but she froze in place.

" _Maaaaaybe_ not…" Lori was having second thoughts now. The distance between the two balconies was steep. Making the jump was risky.

 **"Mom! Dad!"** that same young voice called out again. Lori hung her head in defeat. It was like this child was able to read her mind.

 _"You're not actually considering this, are you, my queen?"_ Jundao questioned in disbelief, watching her get to the other end of the balcony as far back as she could go.

"I'm not considering it! I'm doing it!" Lori broke into a run. When she reached the end of the balcony, she jumped, flying over to the neighboring balcony.

She slammed chest first onto the side of the balcony, gripping on and using her bow blade like a makeshift pickaxe to hold onto it. Her chest felt like it took a hit from a sledgehammer.

" _Okay… hard part's over…_ " Lori panted, pulling herself up onto the balcony, falling inward and landing on the hard floor. She regretted not making herself stronger for this type of lifestyle.

Lori forced herself onto her feet to continue back into the hotel room where she heard the crying coming from. She was shocked to see the room almost utterly destroyed. "Oh gosh…" the common fighter gulped. Most of the floor was gone. The room below was blazing alive like a nightmarish oven. There was a little boy trapped in a corner across the large gap in the floor.

"Mom?! Is that you?" the boy whimpered towards Lori's figure in the smoke of the fire. He might not last any longer in there with how much smoke there was.

The new hero approached the edge. She wanted to jump to him to try and get him out, but then they both would fall into the fire below.

"I'm here to help, just jump to me!" Jewel called back to the child, holding her arms out to catch him.

"I won't make it…!" the child whimpered, looking ready to huddle down and cry for it all to be over.

"You have to trust me!" she reassured the best she could, "I can get you out of here!"

 _"The creature we're here for… it is close…"_ Jundao informed her mind.

"Not now!" she growled, trying to reach forward slightly more. The platform the child was on cracked and tilted inward, threatening to drop him into the fire. "I promise you'll be safe! Just jump to me!"

"O…kay…!" the child braced himself and ran across the short platform and jumped. The small ledge gave away, he lost a little height from his jump. Lori barely caught the infant's arm almost being pulled into the fiery pit with him.

 _"I… **got you…!**_ " Lori panted, taking her bow blade with her free hand and stabbing it into the wooden floor to act as an extra grip. After some effort of hard pulling, she finally got the child up to safety. He instantly latched onto her weeping into her chest.

"Hey, hey, it's okay now…" Lori let out a relieved sigh, putting her bow on her back before heading to the balcony, carrying the young boy who she wanted to get away from the blazing room.

When she stepped out onto the balcony, she noticed a ladder that was not there before. Lori saw a firefighter appear from the ladder seconds after. When the rescue service worker saw the masked heroine, he paused in place.

"Can you get him to the paramedics?" the young hero requested. The firefighter did not expect to see common fighter jewel here of all places. He nodded, though it took a little bit of coercing, and Lori was able to get the child to go with the fireman, whom he latched onto. "Thanks!" Lori exclaimed. She went back to hunting down the monster in the hotel, hoping she had saved everyone in the building.

* * *

After another dangerous balcony hop, which she had slightly better success with, Lori managed to reach the staircase to go up to the fourth floor. When she stepped past the stairwell, however, part of the ceiling gave way.

"Yikes!" she jumped, turning around to see it. The ceiling caved onto the stairs, leaving nothing but flaming wreckage.

 _" **It's here!** "_ Jundao shouted.

"Where?" Lori looked around, and she saw it behind her, at the end of the hall. That creature made of fire stood, the cracked golden mask swaying in the flames like a pendulum.

" _It set a trap…?_ " Lori guessed that meant the creature had a decent intelligence. There was nowhere for her to run, every direction was now blocked by fire and rubble, she was ready to fight.

"Ash, you moron!" they heard a voice, "You set the trap off on the wrong person!"

The monster turned around. Lori raised an eyebrow as she noticed someone walking through the fire that almost magically moved aside for him.

" _Wait…_ I think I know you…" Lori muttered upon seeing him. Kess looked worse for wear. There were many light burns on his arms.

"Kess Ando," he smirked, "You've most likely seen my face on a few bus benches… or on the sides of buses."

"Guess I shouldn't be surprised that you've been at both places where fires broke out," Lori commented on his half-handed reminder, recalling the news report Leni had showed her a while back.

"The first one, I didn't do anything. The second one… well, this one, I had no choice but to do. I needed to talk to someone, and this was the only way to get them to come out of their hiding hole," the former divorce lawyer started to rummaging around his pocket, "I was told that a certain common fighter might get in my way…" he pulled out the strange looking driver from his pocket, holding it proudly for the Loud to see.

" _ **Wha-?!**_ " Lori gasped, wondering if this was the person responsible for breaking into their home and stealing the sealed drivers. "How'd you get a driver?"

"Fate came to give me a chance to prove my innocence. This passion driver is the tool I need to redeem my freedom!" the lawyer put the driver on his torso, right below his shoulder. A strap emerged from the side and wrapped around him at an angle before reattaching to itself.

 _"He has a contract with that monster… I never anticipated others with the ability to do such things to appear so soon,"_ Jundao stated in his contract holder's thoughts. Lori kept a grip tight on her bladed bow.

Kess pulled out a strange item. It seemed like two rings fused together with bright engravings on them.

 _ **"I won't let you stop me from finding out the truth, Jewel!"**_


	13. A New Common Fighter

Lori watched in awe as Kess put the fused rings into his passion driver, hearing them slot in like coins in a vending machine. He reached up and hit both buttons at the same time on his driver.

" **Ignite! _Yeah!_** " the driver enthusiastically called out with a young woman's voice. He pointed a finger at the transformed Loud.

"I refuse to accept my fate!" Kess claimed. The fires around him intensified as he raised his hand up. Two fractures appeared from above, and two large rings appeared below him, their engravings blazing brightly. "Time to change it up," he hit the bottom button on his passion driver. He watched as the rings began spinning rapidly with embers began flaring off the marks on the over sized rings.

" _And I thought my family could be stubborn at times…_ " Lori muttered. She could only stare, keeping her grip tightened on her bladed bow.

The rings began to slowly go over Kess Ando's entire body, covering him from top to bottom. A charcoal black suit coated his body. A silver helmet followed, with flames engraved on it to act as the visors.

 _"He and his monster have a far stronger bond than they should… he's desperate,"_ Jundao spoke from within his contract holder's mind. Ash, the burning monster, latched onto the marriage attorney, coating his body in flames.

In seconds, his charcoal suit had a red overcoat to it. The fire monster's cracked golden mask split in half and attached to the sides of the silver helmet to form flame-styled horns.

" **The ignition of passion! _Yeah!_** " the passion driver called out as the transformation finished. Lori felt slightly worried. A new common fighter stood before her. His form combined with the fire monster seemed far more personal than her bonded form with Jundao was so far.

"Common fighter, Flare, has arrived," Kess said with a grin plastered on his face.

"Are you sure common fighter _'hot headed'_ isn't more fitting?" Lori suggested. She was trying to keep her cool in this growing inferno. She could tell herself that her insult did nothing to tamper with his confidence.

Flare charged through the flames between them, preparing a fist for Lori's helmet clad face. She dodged to the left and swung upwards in an attempt to slash him with her bladed bow. Lori felt her hand suddenly get kicked away, forcing her to drop her guard. Flare grabbed Lori by the shoulders and conked his helmet against hers. He shoved her back before following it up by kicking her in the chest.

Lori held her head in pain. That was just plain dirty fighting that the new common fighter Flare was doing. "Not even Lynn fights like that," she groaned. When the eldest sister looked back up at him, Kess hit the top button on his driver.

" **Weapon! _Yeah!_** " the passion driver chimed. A fracture opening behind Lori in the air, something flew out past her, slashing her side causing a burst of sparks and light smoke as she let out a surprised scream at the sharp pain. Kess caught the short blade that had appeared from the fracture.

 _"He's fighting like a barbarian… Rely on your senses more,"_ Jundao advised.

"But if we waste time here, anyone who hasn't escaped yet will be in more danger…" Lori coughed, holding her slightly bleeding left side. She had the choice of throwing herself through the flames or trying to outrun the fight, though knew he would follow either way. Kess was twirling the silver blade between his fingers like a pencil to mock Jewel.

 _"And if you don't defeat him and his monster, the fire will never be able to be extinguished either,"_ Jundao reminded her. Just imagining all the scared or trapped people that were left in this hotel made Lori anxious.

"Guess mom was right about me having more responsibility than ever…" Lori sighed, straightening back up. She grabbed the bow string handle and pulled back the string, charging up an arrow.

"If I have to kill you to get you out of here, I will!" Kess charged for her. The armored Loud let go of the handle. The light blue arrow flew right for Flare.

He slashed it aside. Lori began to fire as fast as she could, but he was able to dodge or cut past each arrow.

Kess jabbed his fist at her. She leaned back to dodge and grabbed his wrist with one hand. She swung her bladed bow upward at him, only for him to catch the blow with his forearm. A light electrical smoke spewed from the impact site. The two were now gripping each other's weapons, wrestling to get their opponent to drop their weapon first. Kess tried to headbutt her again. Lori ducked under it and stood back up to deliver a swift kick to his stomach.

" _Hrk!_ " Flare loosened his grip momentarily. Lori took this opportunity to slash his chest with her bow twice, causing a v shaped blast of electrical fire to explode from his wounds.

"Take this!" Lori jumped back and began firing arrows rapidly. Kess was able to slash the first one away, but the rest of the volley impaled his body in various areas altogether, causing a small explosion that knocked him off his feet and onto the floor, landing on his back.

The divorce lawyer coughed. "You sure fight better than you look…" he mocked.

Common fighter Jewel reached down a hand to her queen driver. "I'm finishing this now!" Lori hit each button on the queen driver and spun the dial on the side.

" **Yes, queen! _Finisher!_** " the driver exclaimed. A fracture opened up on the other side of Kess. Jundao stepped out, ignoring the small flames around his feet. Lori felt the energy swell up in her right leg.

"Wow! And I thought Ash was big!" Kess was surprised. The large sabertooth tiger snarled, swinging his claws at his opponent. Flare tried to block it, but his guard got broken by the first swipe of the large cat's claws. The second slash hit him in his upper torso, knocking him to the floor back first once again.

" **Gah!** " Kess got stabbed in the sides by Jundao's claws. The sabertooth tiger began to charge down the hall toward Lori, dragging the second common fighter across the floor on his back, leaving a trail of embers behind him. Lori stepped back getting into stance to perform her finisher attack.

"I got you now…!" Kess reached up and hit the bottom button on his passion driver three times rapidly as he was dragged across the floor.

" ** _Fl-fla-_ flare finish! _Yeah!_** " the passion driver screamed like tires against asphalt. Kess's horns on his helmet snapped back together into a golden mask. The new common fighter suddenly burst into a ball of fire. Ash seemed to have taken over his entire body.

Jundao screamed as his hands were lit on fire. The fiery monster leapt off his contract holder's body, wrapping around him and putting him into a glorified body lock.

"Jundao!" Lori gasped as Kess was dropped to the ground. Her linked monster was unable to stop his charge down the hall. The flaming tiger crashed into her. Ash released his burning hold from him. They were both knocked through the other side of an ocean of flames.

Lori had dropped her weapon midway in the fire. She saw Jundao trying to pat the fire off himself. The young woman was able to help him put the fires out on himself. However, she felt like now her leg was caught in a compactor. The energy was swelling up in the limb, demanding to be expelled immediately.

"Quick! Kick something! Anything! If you don't, you'll-!" Jundao heard blazing sound, as a fiery explosion that hit them both, blasting them backwards further. Lori screamed in agony, feeling the burning pain over her entire body and her legs crushed feeling was worsening. Kess grabbed his long dagger and approached her.

"Jundao, get out of here!" the transformed Loud ordered. He hesitated, but he could tell she had a plan.

"Okay, my queen…" he slashed the ground to create a new fracture before pulling himself into it to escape, the air began slowly repairing afterwards.

"I don't like that I have to do this…" Kess began to approach slowly with Ash beside him.

"You said you had to talk to someone! Why would you risk killing them? It's crazier than my family!" Lori tried to talk through the ever growing pain. Her legs bone felt to be grinding to powder.

"Someone killed my wife! I got blamed for it, and my first clue that'll lead me to the monster of a human that did this to her, is that rookie cop upstairs!" the lawyer responded. When the Loud girl tried to back away, the fire behind her grew. It seemed to bend to Ash's will. Where was a water bender when she needed one?

"If someone else really killed her, then just turn yourself in! A real investigation would find out the truth," Common Fighter Jewel offered. The lawyer could even pass by for not being blamed for the fires as long as he snuck out unnoticed.

"They won't listen! Most of the police force in this rathole of a town won't listen! I helped their wives with each divorce! Yet they don't care in the end, as long as they get a paycheck," Kess began to run his dagger along the wall letting the scraping sound of it against the brickwork ring out. As if he was trying to scare Lori. "When I get my answer from that rookie, I'll make sure he becomes a messenger, to let everyone of those pigs know that injustice won't be tolerated..." Kess raised his dagger overhead, about to jam it into Lori's skull.

Now was her chance. Lori pressed both hands onto the floor and pushed herself up off her side, to deliver the overcharged high kick to Flare's chest.

" _ **Alllllllllllllllllllllright!**_ " the queen's driver cheered out as the huge explosion of blue energy rocked Kess's body. It sent him flying down the hall, crashing into a vending machine.

Lori had to force herself to her feet before she hobbled toward the fracture Jundao had left. The leg she had used for the finisher was not responding to her brain signal's commands, as if the crushing had ruined the nerves.

Just then, she was grabbed at the ankle by the flaming monster's hand. Lori grabbed her queen driver and removed it, making her common fighter form vanish. The armor disappearing gave her just enough room to release her now slightly burned ankle from his grip. Lori then threw herself into the fracture.

" _Ahski Kata…_ " Ash growled as the fracture closed behind her. That Loud had jumped into the other world to escape death.

" _Where…_ Where'd she go?!" Kess stood up coughing violently, holding his chest in pain. Some of his ribs were chipped heavily from the attack. His suit could barely protect him from the powerful surge of energy. "Damn it!" the lawyer threw his dagger on the ground. The monster he held a contract with came to him, offering his hand to him.

"That Jewel girl… she's stronger than she looks… Ash, we gotta get outta here… I can't breathe…" Kess began to wheeze. His capability to tolerate the smoky air was leaving him. Ash nodded, wrapping Flare up in a ball of fire before they seemed to vanish from thin air.

 _ **"She'll make solving this murder a lot harder then it needs to be."**_


	14. A World long gone

Lisa had spent the last hour making sure all of the sleeping gas was cleared from their home's ventilation systems. It was easy to fix since she always had the vents ready to drain the air outside in case of an experiment going terribly wrong.

"And you have no idea how this could've happened?" Kurutta stood nearby. He answered Lisa's upset call and came straight to the Loud house the second he got the news. He seemed to have recovered well after being stabbed the other day by Nabqa.

" _No…_ " the child prodigy solemnly answered, she had calmed down but felt far from better. "I don't know who could have known about the sealed drivers other than me and Lori… let alone know the combination I had on the locked case."

"Why are you so upset about it? Ya lost a couple of sealed drivers. You can just make more," the government worker tried to reassure. The twos relationship seemed to have been mended quite well after Lori opened the prodigy's eyes.

"I'm upset because it's my fault they're gone! I recognize the sleeping agent used… I'm the one that created it after all," Lisa hung her head slightly. She had just finished checking on Luna and Lily as they slept in the living room. They would wake up in a few minutes if her checkup had been right.

"You must have a strong nose then to have that kind of memorization," Kurutta commented as they walked back into the garage. The open case laid there without the drivers it once contained. Lori now had no backup drivers to fall back on if something happened to her queen driver, that was the most upsetting fact to Lisa.

"It's a weak variant of anesthesia I developed to aid those that could not survive a second round of the normal types of anesthesia," Lisa explained, "It puts less stress on the body, but makes the person fall into a slightly deeper sleep.

" _Uh_ , Lisa? What's going on?" A new voice entered their conversation. The two looked to the now open garage door. Lincoln stood there with a small bag over his back. He looked mentally exhausted, far beyond most could reach without being awake for a week straight. Lisa found it odd, since she knew that Lily had not been destroying their brothers sleep schedule that much.

" _I…_ was just trying to inquire something with Kurutta," Lisa responded with the lie, surprised by how soon her sole brother had returned home. She hoped he did not overhear much of their conversation. She was slightly confused however, she did not recognize that bag as belonging to him or anyone in their family.

"Hey there, rich kid. You been enjoying the money?" the government agent chuckled, fixing his feather boa up as it rested on his shoulders.

" _Uhh…_ " Lincoln preferred to avoid that subject. No one was to know about that bribing event, beyond the three of them as far as he cared. "I'm just gonna lay down. I think I'm getting sick. Come get me if you need help with anything, Lisa," he told her. Something was going on, but his physical exhaustion made it hard to tell what, Lisa tried to brush it off as her simply imagining things due to her current upset state.

"Thank you, Lincoln. I will," Lisa let him go on to his room to presumably sleep, like everyone else in their home was doing right now.

"Where's Lori, by the way?" Kurutta questioned. He could not see a thing in the house that would lead them to the culprit behind all this, or at least as far as he was letting on.

"I sent her to fight with a monster composed of fire… That was quite some time ago, however," Lisa answered, rubbing her chin. The government agent motioned the child genius to the living room.

"Come on. There might be something about it on the news…" Kurutta stated," I know the news keeps gossiping about Common Fighter Jewel now."

The child prodigy nodded, following him along. The media had become obsessed with Jewel ever since she made her first appearance. It seemed the whole town wanted to reveal who it was under the helmet.

* * *

When they entered the living room, they could see Luna lying on the couch on her back, snoring away. Lily slept on her chest, drooling on her with a warm smile on her face.

"Adorable," Kurutta smirked. He let Lisa take the remote control to turn on the television to try and find any news about Lori on television.

"Luna was in a hurry when they first arrived home. I certainly hope she didn't have an important appointment to attend," Lisa spoke while she changed channels, hoping Luna was at least getting some very much needed rest since she had been heavily stressed recently.

"Wait, hold it there!" Kurutta stopped her when one of the headlines caught his attention on a channel.

 _ **"Common Fighter Jewel Saves the Day!"**_ the tagline for the newscast read. A male reporter stood in front of the now extinguished sunset hotel. Many firefighters outside were still going through the charred husk of a building.

"Earlier today, a fire broke out. It was very similar to the one that happened the other day, where the fire escapes and stairwells were blocked by fire too strong to get past," the reporter began as he walked to the few people seated at ambulances after checkups.

"Firefighters report that Common Fighter Jewel appeared from nowhere and stormed into the building. We're here with some of the survivors that were trapped inside," the reporter held the microphone up to the young man first. "Tell us sir. What happened in there," he requested him to recount the traumatic story without skipping a beat, and without taking the survivors mental state into consideration.

"It was terrible… since the fire escapes and staircases were blocked off, me and two others had no choice but to try the elevator," the survivor of the traumatic incident stated. He was fully aware of how terrible of an idea that turned out to be. "The cables snapped… I dunno why we didn't fall further than we did, but we got stuck in that elevator… then we heard someone call out, and the doors were pried open."

The reported moved the microphone to his mouth. "And it was Common Fighter Jewel who saved you?" the reporter questioned for more details, before turning the mic back over.

" _Ye-_ yeah. She was in her suit and everything, so I didn't get to see her face… I told her how strange the fire was before I ran," the man finished. The reporter lost interest quickly. He would have kept it if the man did see Lori's face under that helmet. Alas, another person who wouldn't tell him what Jewel looked like unmasked.

"So what happened to Jewel afterwards?" the reporter spoke, bringing the microphone to the firefighter passing by, whom was simply trying to do his job.

" _Uhh…_ Well the fire's got weak a bit after she went in there… it was so weird. It's like something was controlling the flames, and Jewel had scared them off," the fireman explained it the best he could, sounding uncertain of the insanity that this city was becoming in his eyes, like it was to many others'.

"Maybe next time," the reporter spoke, "We'll be able to find out who this common fighter truly is… with a billion eyes in this city after all, it'll be hard to keep her identity secret forever…"

Lisa hit the remote's off button, turning the television off. Her face expressed nothing but irritation.

"Why are you so stressed for? It's not like you're the one wearing the suit," Kurutta questioned, rubbing his head. Lisa seemed more stressed than Lori half of the time.

"I maintain the queen driver, and I'm monitoring Lori's health almost every minute! Aside from your brother, I'm the only scientist researching the fractures," Lisa continued. She was afraid of the domino effect that would happen from Lori's identity being discovered by everyone. Not just her family.

"Aw… you're embarrassed about becoming the center of attention," Kurutta chuckled, finding the idea of Lisa being embarrassed adorable.

" _I-_ I've given dozens of lectures and public speeches! This is the last thing I'd be embarrassed with…" Lisa growled with a light red tint on her face. " _I-_ I'm going to try and get in contact with Lori. You find the drivers I created," she made leave, leaving the government agent standing there with his eyebrows raised

"She's not even eight and she's as big of a nutjob as the rest of her family," Kurutta chuckled. Though he then heard a yawn. He looked over his shoulder to see a surprised and awake Luna.

"…Who are you?" Luna quirked. The government worker mentally scrambled for some excuse, he decided that he didn't need to put much effort into a lie.

"You're dreaming, _so…_ I'm either a long-lost relative you last saw when you were two, a really bad burglar that broke into your home, or Santa Claus. Take your pick," Kurutta quickly made for the front door, leaving the aspiring rock star there with nothing but her confusion.

"…Oh no!" a realization hit her, " **I forgot about Sam!** "

* * *

Everything was blurry when Lori tried to open her eyes, eventually things began to focus once again. " _What happened to me?_ " she moaned, sitting up. Her memory was scrambled, and her body was pained. She saw the random burn marks on her body and ankle. The queen driver rested beside her. Lori picked it back up before sliding it into her pocket.

" _Oh… Right..._ I jumped into a fracture to escape Flare…" her memories began to return, but they still felt jumbled up. The sudden shift in going through a fracture seemed terribly straining on her mind at first.

She stood up, hoping to find out where she was. Decorations that hung on the brick walls were matching for the decayed environment, or well kept at all. A red carpet ran under her feet.

" _It feels ancient… It's like I'm in a museum,_ " Lori mumbled, holding her chin. She was talking to herself at this point. The environment was heavily damaged. Wherever she was, no one had taken care of it in what appeared to be decades. Lori began to wander aimlessly. It was all she could do now, the fracture she had come through was gone after all.

* * *

Lori had wandered through the large structure for a short while. She was in the remnants of a form of mansion. She had not been able to get ahold of Jundao with her thoughts like she did before, so she had to assume he was resting after the fight.

Lord heard an odd growl. She stopped in front of a large front entrance, with two sets of stairs going both ways. The front doors were thick solid wood, shut and half buried under rocks.

Lori could not resist the curiosity to find what the noise was. Her senses were still not fully recovered. She approached the half buried doors and tried to peek through the opening.

A scaly hand reached through to grab her, making her jump back. Monsters were outside the door. She had not been able to see any other buildings either. It was like a domain isolated from any towns.

"I shouldn't be surprised, this is the monsters world after all… but they aren't trying to get in to get me?" Lori mused. Not one creature was interested in entering the place. Only one tried to grab her, but even now it had lost interest swiftly. She was becoming more and more confused the further she investigated.

* * *

Lori decided to keep on walking to investigate around further. So far there were no entrances or exits at all from what she could find. The Loud traveled down a staircase, and there she found a giant underground storage facility meant for holding dozens of caskets of wine, yet nothing was left but busted barrels. She saw a fire illuminating the near area.

When Lori got to where the fire was she could see the small bonfire setup burning brightly, the young woman saw that familiar sabertooth figure lying on the ground.

"Jundao?" Lori chirped. Jundao was trying to recover from his wounds. She could see the crystal infection on his shoulder and back spreading slowly and steadily. "Hey, wake up!" She kicked the sabertooth tiger in the side. She heard a grumble. It was enough to wake him up thankfully.

" _My queen…?_ What are you doing here?" Jundao sat up, shocked to see his contract holder with him in the remnants of a world long gone. Lori took a seat beside him. She was exhausted in so many ways.

"I followed you into the fracture so I could escape that insane lawyer," she mused. She looked regretful for her decision now.

"You've adjusted to the sudden change quite well. The last human to come through a fracture lost all fragments of his memories," Jundao stated. He had to leave out how the last human to come through was mauled to shreds by other monsters as well.

"Where am I anyway?" Lori asked, looking over her injuries. Her deep cut marks had caused the impact site around them to begin cracking around them. Her blood was regaining its blue tint, she knew she should not be shocked by this but the feeling of dread still was in her body.

"You're in a castle that once stood strong and proud within the kingdom. No one can get into here but me," the white furred monster stated. He looked demoralized. He let Ash get the best of him. "We lost that battle… _didn't we…?_ "

"Sorry… I know I'm supposed to rely on my dodging, and you're supposed to lead the battles with your fighting," Lori spoke. Jewel was an entity created from the two combined. It took their best skills or traits to fuse them into one.

"I told you to rely on your senses more…" Jundao reassured, "I shouldn't question the one I follow to survive."

"You don't follow me. We follow each other. I'm not a queen…" Lori whimpered. That queen status she was given seemed to not suit her the more she thought over it, but she accepted it because it seemed to make him more comfortable. "I'm just trying to get by in a world that'd… that would probably be better with me dead."

"Suicide would do nothing. I witnessed hundreds of bodies litter the streets of those who thought that it would…" Jundao claimed. He had his memories stuck in a dark place, no matter how hard he tried to break free from them.

"I'm supposed to be getting a job, or going to college… trying to get closer with my boyfriend… _helping raise my family…_ making my parents lives easier..." Lori buried her face into her hands.

"Your world will end up like this one eventually. You're infected with the same thing my race had… Except, your race can't withstand it as long it seems," Jundao exclaimed. The fractures appearing at such a frequency proved it. They would only increase and spread overtime.

"I know… You lose your mind, I lose my life…" she nodded understanding their differences. "But to even get to those points in my life that I want, I have to fight… But I don't want to fight, Jundao. I hate it! Carol Pingrey was the only person I've ever wanted to seriously beat up…"

"Who is Carol?" asked a curious Jundao.

" _N-_ never mind," Lori pulled out the queen's driver, holding it tightly in her hands. "I can barely handle fighting with my own family… yet I know they'd fall apart if just one of us was gone."

Lori felt the large hand on her back to try and comfort her. "What is it they say in your world…? This is a fate worse than chess?" Jundao tried to quote. His mix of words made Lori laugh a little.

"Death, it's a fate worse than death… But I don't think it's gotten that bad yet…" the young girl corrected him. Now was a time to be optimistic. She remembered her mother's words from the other day ringing out in her head, as she looked down to the curved ring she had been given as a gift that acted as a reminder.

"I can't give this up though… if I give up, the only common fighter left will be that Flare guy, but he doesn't care for anyone other than himself and his dead wife," Lori mused. She did not want to even imagine Royal Woods with monsters running rampant to their pleasure, with Flare possibly leading them all, with nobody donning a driver able to stop them all. "I won't give up. You don't have to worry, Jundao."

"That is the queen I know," Jundao gave a smirk. Lori reluctantly nodded to that.

"Say… What did you do before your world got attacked?" she decided to ask him to change the topic. Nothing was going to change after that talk, aside from her increasing determination when it came to this hero lifestyle.

"I was a simple warrior following orders. I was usually a member of the farmer guarders. We patrolled the farmland to make sure thieves and bandits did not pilfer from the land," Jundao began reminiscing on the old memories. Lori sat beside him by the bonfire, listening intently, while the flames crackled away.

"Nabqa was in the same group as I, always passionate about helping everybody he could. Things often became boring. When we weren't helping the farmers do the simple chores, or chasing off the animals trying to steal food, we were training. Unlike most of the world, our kingdom of Suzkia supported witchcraft and alchemy. Our king and queen did not fear the unknown. They embraced it from the passion of curiosity."

"Please tell me that this isn't going where I think it's going…" Lori held a hand on her head. They couldn't be embracing the very thing that destroyed them. By Jundao's words either way, the kingdom seemed frowned upon by the rest of the world.

"We only have remnants of knowledge about what happened," explained Jundao, "We don't know the cause or the source, we only know that we were the next world that the crystals wished to target."

"How many worlds have these crystals been to?" Lori questioned. She saw one crystal fragment exposing itself from her side wound, from when Kess's knife had been summoned. She simply tore it out and threw it in the fire, ignoring the pain while holding the wound to stem the bleeding.

"I cannot say… Possibly hundreds… maybe even thousands. We will never know. The fractures never go back farther than the last place they've taken over…" Jundao answered. The fractures were only leading to his world and earth now. The alien crystals disconnected themselves from previous worlds they had taken over once they had served their purpose of taking over the next.

"The fractures start in one area to test its resistance… then, they spread farther apart. They first focus on the places with the strongest defenses," Jundao sat up and started to make his way over to a nearby wooden crate to look for something.

"They're just testing Royal Woods?" Lori questioned, finding that more insulting than anything. Maybe it was a good thing though. Royal Woods now had her acting as an common fighter there, she at least could keep them at bay for a good period of time for hopefully someone to find a solution.

"Indeed… my kingdom, however, stood the strongest and lasted until the very end, thanks to our queen and king. A pair who did not make it into power by birth right or war… but because they were smart," he retrieved a few herbs from the crate and came over to Lori to try and treat her wounds.

"Really? That's weird for a couple to be that smart…" muttered Lori.

"They weren't married. They never cared for each other. I dare say that they hated each other to no end... It made them perfect as rulers," Jundao spoke, "Whenever a plan was devised by one of them, the king and queen would do their best to find any flaws. Even the slightest, in either of them, forcing them to repair it to save their dignity."

"Oh…" Lori nodded. She felt that she and Bobby really weren't the smartest couple around either, but she hoped they were not as bad as these long gone rulers.

"The fractures started in a kingdom to our west. When we received word of it, our king and queen immediately ordered for all of those involved with witchcraft and alchemy to find a means to stop it... They succeeded," Jundao began to pack the herbs against Lori's wounds, using tore up pieces of cloth from a pile of flags to act as bandaging.

"They stopped the invasion?" Lori was shocked.

"Yes… Thanks to a magical barrier that they forged, any crystals that came into contact with the barrier instantly turned to dust. But because we did this, more people came so they could be safe. Our kingdom grew, our leaders were pleased with it. The king and queen found it as their chance to become the rulers of the world," Jundao sounded like he missed that time of peace they had in the past. "Except with more people came more possibilities of crimes. Some children that grew up in the barrier thought it was a made up plan to keep the people in line even."

"Paranoia isn't always the worst thing… My family taught me that," Lori claimed, sounding mixed on it. The Loud family would be stuck in many life damaging situations if paranoia and nosiness were not involved. Jundao finished putting the last of the bandaging on Lori's many injuries. She still could not completely feel her leg, but it was thankfully responding to her brains commands with little to no issue.

"Mhm… then, it happened. The crystals mutated. Sometimes they could break into the barrier and infiltrate our home. As result, our leaders decided that anyone who ended up infected by the crystals was to be burned to death after execution," Jundao sat back down.

"Then, it stopped showing signs on the outer body during its early stages. Therefore, anyone caught with any symptoms of the disease would either follow the same fate or would become human dolls for the alchemists to research," the tiger threw another stick into the fire, looking intensely into the flames that brewed.

"You lost someone closer than Nabqa because of it, too… didn't you?" Lori questioned. She could tell this was a hard thing for him to recollect on the further he went back into his memories. There seemed far worse loss in his heart, as Jundao seemed to express.

"I did… From start to finish, I obeyed my kingdom's orders without questions or doubts, without fail… I watched all of my close ones perish," Jundao growled, reaching up to his partially crystallized upper back and shoulder, feeling the hardness of the gems against his claws. He slammed his fist on the ground. "First, it was my fellow knights… Then, it was my neighbors… Then, the very king himself followed… And my wife… after twenty years we shared, I could not save even her from the crystals. She, is the one that infected me... All because I hesitated."

" _I…_ I'm sorry, Jundao…" Lori could think of nothing else to say. She couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like to be in his shoes. Constantly being in a position of having to doubt his decisions and his leaders'.

"So, you see… this castle is the only thing left of that barrier. The queen isolated herself within these walls and used the few remaining sorcerers powers to shrink the barrier around the building, to keep the rest of the world out of it. It doesn't get rid of the crystals, but it makes them lose interest," Jundao claimed. The queen had accepted her fate of dying all alone, isolated from a world they had tried in vain to save.

"That, is the tale of how the kingdom of Suzkia fell..." He sighed out, once the long explanation of his kingdoms history was done.

"If it makes you feel better, you can call me whatever you want," Lori stated. It was natural for Jundao to refer her as queen. Her driver gave her that status.

"I will, my queen," he gratefully nodded to his contract holder. Lori though had a curious thought.

" _Hey…_ was everyone in your world human before the infection appeared, _or…?_ " she asked, while her interest in his world was peaked.

"No. These are our natural appearances. We had many races. I have taken note that the non-human living creatures in your world resemble a lot of us in regards," Jundao answered. His world was simply different when compared to Earth in terms of the evolutionary chain.

"I presume the crystals wanted to take over our minds for our bodies... They're fastidious in their plannings... They see us as useful tools, for now." Jundao added, it was as if a higher being was controlling the very crystals like a puppeteer.

"Oh," Lori nodded. Lisa was going to ask a million questions to the white tiger if she knew about this. "I think we have less time now to get a core crystal fragment…" Lori mused to try and focus on the next important task they had at hand. Her face expressed nothing but exhaustion from today's activities.

" _Indeed…_ " Jundao nodded. Due to the damage they suffered from their battle, their bodies had to focus on healing, and as result, the crystal infections they suffered with had more opportunity to run rampant within them. Their six days left may have chipped down to three.

"Can I stay here for tonight? I don't think I can stand going through another fracture right now…" Lori requested. She wanted a safe place to rest, despite her worry for her family's well being. She knew they were in good hands as long as Lisa was there. Though she hated knowing the sealed drivers were falling into the possessions of the wrong people.

"You're the queen. You technically own this castle now," Jundao joked. It took a moment, but Lori began to lightly laugh, her voice echoing through the empty halls, she was finding the idea hilarious. She would have loved this if she was Lola's age. "What should we do once dawn breaks?" he asked as Lori tried to get comfortable on the cold hard concrete.

"The same thing we always do. Try to survive," Lori yawned, her head rested on her arms. The warmth of the fire on her body felt nice in this cold world.

"We're not going to hunt down Flare?" Jundao asked. It was irritating that Lori would rather not have a rematch immediately against the second common fighter.

"There's no point… He's about as subtle as my family," Lori replied. Kess and Ash would make their presence in any part of Royal Woods hugely obvious. Hunting him down was not worth the effort.

"Very well…" Jundao nodded, understanding her reasoning.

" _Well, goodnight Jundao…_ " Lori began to close her eyes and drift off into unconsciousness.

 _ **"Goodnight, my queen… I am grateful to be your servant,"**_


	15. Resuming the hunt

**A/N: Sorry for the wait everybody, I hope you enjoy this story being continued, I feel bad knowing that it might be awful according to a lot of the response I get but oh well. Take care all.**

* * *

It had been a peaceful night for Lori. She had spent the time sleeping in the other dimension. She had lost time to find a core crystal fragment after she had sustained so many injuries from Kess Ando. The morning came, and she sat on the ground, eating a salad made out of wild herbs, given to her by Jundao.

"Thanks for the meal. I was starving already when I went into that hotel," Lori spoke to Jundao, who was tending his own injuries. His infection was spreading momentarily along his shoulder and back.

"You're certainly pushing your limits," Jundao replied, watching her put the now empty bowl aside, looking content with the meal. The blonde woman pushed herself back onto her feet, trying to ignore her body's sore demand for rest.

"I want to go home to check on everyone, _but…_ " Lori's voice trailed off. She knew Lisa had handled things by now, though the sealed drivers' absence made things even more stressful, more so that wound up in the hands of a vengeful lawyer.

"Don't fret. I know a location that one monster dwells in," Jundao grinned. Lori raised an eyebrow, concerned, but appreciative.

"Well… open a fracture and let's go," Lori nodded, ready to get back to the hunt. She had to put up with her body's pain for the time being. She watched as Jundao used his claws to tear open the air to make a fracture appear. "Oh, it won't mess up my mind again, will it?" she asked before she could get moving.

"Your body adjusts… the fact that you didn't lose a lot more memory when you first came here shows your mental strength, my queen," Jundao answered. There was no way she would be immune to it. The fracture's effect distorted the memories of whoever went through anyway, out of anyone's control.

"Alright… well, thanks," Lori hopped through the fracture, and it closed behind her moments later like a defunct teleporter. Her partner was left standing there. Now all he could do was wait for when he would be called.

* * *

When Lori arrived on the other side of the fracture, she had to stop for a moment. Everything felt dizzy, and she had one massive headache, painful enough to draw a few tears from her eyes.

Lori panted, relieved when the pain began to die down. Her eyesight returned enough to let her see a small alleyway she stood in. She had no idea though where in Royal Woods she was. In almost seconds, Lori heard a myriad of sounds coming from her cellphone. She took it out, though it took her a minute to remember her password to unlock it.

"Over a hundred missed texts and nearly fifty calls?" she was surprised to see this until she saw the date on her phone. She had spent the rest of the day in the other world with Jundao. " _Great…_ guess I'll worry about it later," she pocketed her phone, thankful that the headache was helping to distract her from the rest of her body's pain. Jewel started to walk out of the alley. The sunlight hitting her face was a bit blinding due to her eyes being adjusted to the dark shadows of the castle underground in the other world. "So what's the plan, Jundao?" she asked aloud.

 _"I know about the location of a group of monsters. They are a horde. The five of them work together to hunt their prey,"_ Jundao claimed. The eldest Loud had to pause for a minute. Her brain was taking a while to register his words.

"Jundao, I'm barely alive by a thread. My brain's half fried, and the best idea you have is to go try to fight one on five like my family would?" Lori asked as she walked. The sabre-toothed tiger did not really know what to say in regard to the loud family.

 _"We only need to defeat one. I only suggest this idea, because we have no other choice. They'll soon begin hunting humans, too, at this rate, if my theory is correct"_ Jundao retorted. It was not like they needed to defeat them all, but if they could defeat at least one, then they would be able to recover and buy more time.

" _Great…_ " Lori groaned. She really wished there was another choice. They could not exactly wait and hope that a monster would appear from a fracture that they could handle either. The waiting was too big a risk for them to take. "Alright. Lead the way," she relented, and Jundao immediately started mentally communicating the location that he recalled the group of monsters resided in.

* * *

Lincoln enjoyed the comfort of his bed. He sat alone, reading a comic book. The house was quiet. Most of the family had left to try and find Lori. She had been missing, but not long enough to call the police about it.

Rita had done her best to try and make everyone wait a little longer, but with a family as large as theirs, it was impossible to fully do so. Lincoln, Luna, Lily, Lynn and Lisa stayed at home for their own reasons, or simply were unable to search for Lori themselves.

"Ababa goo," Lily cooed beside her brother, having fun just playing with one of his many toys.

"Glad you like it Lily," Lincoln chuckled, running a hand along the infant's head. He had no desire to really keep them anymore, those toys were just going to gather dust on his shelf forever otherwise. He was more or less stuck babysitting Lily, but he was used to it.

" _Lincoln…?_ " asked a nervous sounding Lynn. She stood at his open doorway.

"Hey, Lynn. You need something?" he put his comic aside. He wanted to avoid an argument, but the underlying problems made an argument inevitable.

"I came to apologize for that fight… I know I look pathetic begging like that," the auburn haired girl started, trying not to lose the confidence she had at hand. Lily crawled into his lap, cooing happily and nuzzling into her brother's chest like he was a large teddy bear.

"I wasn't mad over the begging," replied Lincoln, "It's that you don't want me to just pretend to be your boyfriend. You want me to actually date you. I know because of that invite to the party you dug out of a trash can."

Lynn was silent for a moment. He had actually caught her desperately seeking an invitation. "Yeah… I do want you to be more than my brother," Lynn confessed to his confirmed suspicions. He shook his head. There was no way he'd dwell on that subject any longer, mainly because there was not a single chance on this earth that he would date any of his family.

"So why aren't you out hunting for Lori with the others?" Lincoln asked, though while they talked there was a chill that overtook his spine.

"I figured she'd come back on her own. Luna ran straight off to Sam's though," Lynn replied. She watched as her brother got out of bed and handed the happily babbling Lily over to her. "You know, if you need something, I'll get it for you," his slightly older sister said, not wanting him to strain his body especially when he had claimed to be feeling sick.

"I realized I forgot something at Clyde's the other day. I need to go get it," he finished lacing up his shoes as he replied.

"Just lay down and I'll get it for you," Lynn offered, clearly trying to gain make up points with her brother.

Lincoln shook his head. "I can't get any better lying around all day," he reached under his bed and pulled out that new bag he had come home with, and threw it over his shoulder.

"I'll come with you then," Lynn followed him through the halls to the steps.

"Sorry, but you have to watch Lily. Lisa's too busy and it's too hot to take her anywhere," Lincoln replied back. He could tell how frustrated she looked by this. She looked down to Lily.

"Goo goo," Lily cooed to her older sister.

"Fine. You can borrow my bike. Just promise to get some rest when you get home," Lynn agreed reluctantly. He was surprised by how easy it was to convince her.

"Thanks, Lynn, and I promise I will," Lincoln nodded, bidding them goodbye before heading for the garage to get his bicycle. He had his own bike, but at the moment it was going through repairs after old age started wearing it down.

"Something feels wrong, Lily…" Lynn murmured, though Lily was just gnawing on her hand in response, trying to make her hunger apparent. The auburn haired girl went to the kitchen, trying not to worry about their brother.

* * *

Lincoln entered the garage, where he saw Lisa working on blueprints for something too complex for him to make heads or tails from.

"Hey, Lisa… Why was that government dude here for yesterday?" Lincoln asked while he prepared the bike. He felt Lisa had become a little out of touch with reality due to all that work.

"There was an incident that I needed him to handle. We've mended our relationship quite effectively thanks to Lori," Lisa responded, not going into specific details as to what the problem was at all.

"Do you have any idea where she is?" Lincoln queried. Both she and Lori had gotten very much closer recently. That was something a lot of the family had picked up on, yet found strange.

"No, I do not…" Lisa turned around on her seat to face him, "But I have faith in her ability to take care of herself. But judging by your behavior and that tone of voice, there is something you know about Lori that you're keeping secret from everyone."

Lincoln was taken aback slightly from the suddenness of that question. That genius of a sister was good at picking up on things like that. It annoyed their other family members sometimes. " _…Yeah…_ I think the reason she's acting so weird lately is because she's pregnant," Lincoln put it simply. That news made his young sibling go wide eyed in surprise.

"No! That's preposterous. The last time she had Bobby visit was a month ago," Lisa argued, though when she said it out loud, the time frame started to match. It made her think that the many near death experiences Lori was in were just a coincidence. "Oh dear… this could be a problem," the second youngest Loud held her chin in worry over the possibility.

"I'll let you decide whether to tell the rest of the family… or not. I mean, I'd do it, but you've gotten a lot closer with her lately, so it's better for you to decide," Lincoln hopped on the bicycle and began to pedal away. Lisa gave a short wave to him, letting him leave the house. Though it had been obvious he had used that as a defensive line to escape any queries about him

" _She's not the only one suffering from a personality shift… Although, yours is far more subtle, Lincoln,_ " Lisa muttered to nobody but herself after he had gone. She was more interested in her brother right now than their eldest sister. Still, it was a problem that the spectacled prodigy had to deal with. She would worry about Lincoln later. He could come to his family for help if he needed it.

 _ **"I hope Lori is at least fairing well... but with that second sealed driver missing, it means that there is at least one other Common Fighter running around out there."**_


	16. The Third Common Fighter

After a lengthy walk, Lori found herself at an old rickety two-story home. It had long since been abandoned. She looked down at the overgrown plants covering the address. She brushed them off to read the sign.

"This is Shane's Residence…" Lori began to try and open the rusted gate that was part of the large fence surrounding the residence, though the heavy rust was making it hard to open.

 _"You know of this place?"_ Jundao questioned, wondering if it held any importance to his queen.

"Lucy used to hang out here with her friends when she started getting into cult stuff. I had to come out here every other night back then to pick her up," Lori stated. It was the former gathering place of the gothic Loud's old friends, and one of the many homes that left for no one but father time to maintain.

"That gate's not budging. We'll have to find another way in," she let out a frustrated sigh. She could not climb over the fence either, since there were sharp spikes protruding from it. "How do you know about this monster horde, anyway?" Lori queried to the open air. Despite Lisa talking to her about controlling that habit better, she still intended to do it since it felt far more natural.

 _"They tried to get me at one point… I was able to wound the one leading them, it scared the rest away thankfully. They're the reason I was hiding underground when you located me,"_ Jundao answered, sounding irritated. A pack of monsters too weak to stand on their own had almost gotten the better of him. The many days he spent fighting them off were unforgettable to him.

"Great. So, they actually know how to work together on top of that," Lori had been meekly hoping they would be fighting inexperienced monsters, but that was off the table now. She then saw a small broken window. It would lead into the basement. The young woman looked around briefly to make sure the coast was clear, before she used her foot to begin kicking the glass inward to try and clear it out.

 _"Should we get in danger, I have an escape plan prepared. I do not want you to use fractures more than you have to,"_ Jundao told her. Just because she could withstand going through them, did not mean that she could handle going through them so often.

"Compared to the rest of my body, my brain's the least damaged," Jewel replied. She began to slowly lower herself through the broken window, grateful for how thin her body was for her age. Lori groaned as her left leg was not cooperating with her. The damage from the overcharge did quite a number on her joint, though all of her limbs were feeling stiffer due to the crystals growing in her body.

 _"This is why I told you to not keep charging your finisher, my queen… it stresses your body far past the point it should be able to take, even with my armor equipped,"_ Jundao commented. His contract holder looked around. The basement was large, full of dust cobwebs and long forgotten garbage.

"You act like I had a choice," Lori rolled her eyes. She started walking through the basement. It only had the sunlight piercing the other few small windows in the lower area of the home to light it up.

She wondered where the door was to get out of the basement, but as she was looking, there was a loud thud, and the wooden ceiling shook violently. " ** _What was that…?!_** " Lori got lower to the floor. She feared that the ceiling might collapse.

 _"The monsters are not too large, and this is not the sound of something walking around…"_ Jundao paused when another hard rumble shook the dust off the ceiling.

"There's a fight going on!" Lori got back up and made a run for it. She was hoping that perhaps the group of monsters were fighting amongst each other. It would be the perfect opportunity to her then.

* * *

When the heroic Loud finally got upstairs, the house was practically shaking. She got to the main foyer and kept close to the wall, peeking her head around the doorway to see what was going on.

A large blue humanoid bee monster was smashed through the wall. Lori immediately retracted herself back to avoid getting spotted. She looked to her side to see it. The smoking insect body was sprawled out on the floor. It could not move a muscle.

" _Boss… Sorry… I'm past my limit…_ " the bee creature coughed. With his last words said, his body began to turn into a pile of dust, leaving nothing behind but their core crystal fragment shard.

"Happy birthday to me," Lori picked it up. She wanted to consume it right away, but she remembered Lisa requesting to be allowed to examine it first.

 _"What are you waiting for, my queen?"_ Jundao questioned his contract holder.

"Sorry… just want to see if we can get a second one before I use it," she quietly replied, before she peeked back around the corner. Lori was in shock at what she witnessed. The room was in ruins. There were slash marks, arrows sticking out from various parts of the walls, scorch marks, and smashed furniture. There were four various types of humanoid bees, wasps and hornets, they were all surrounding someone. Someone whose presence made Lori's jaw gape.

This person she saw was slightly taller than her. He donned an orange suit under various segments of damaged armor attached across the suit. A sword was gripped by his left hand with a strange looking blade. The helmet had a cracked design to it. Like it had been destroyed and rebuilt hundreds of times. His red cape rested on his left shoulder.

" _A new common fighter…?_ " Lori was in disbelief. This was Lisa's second sealed driver in its full form. There was a shiny bright silver polish to its square shape and many gems embedded in various parts of it. A card was displayed in the center through thick glass.

 _"That is the king's driver… this opponent might be even more dangerous than Kess…"_ Jundao pointed out. His contract holder wondered if this was a scary coincidence that this person had the driver that paired with her own like a mirror.

"I came to make your leader mine. Those that value their lives should take this as their chance to leave," the heavy toned voice declared.

"Stop it! We don't care about your stupid human needs! We just want to live in peace!" the hornet wielding a bow screamed with fury in his heart, loading a stinger arrow into it and taking aim.

"Our boss is the reason we're all still alive!" the wasp wielding two daggers declared, "We'd be nothing but crystallized walking corpses without her!"

"You already killed our friend! Why do you want our boss too?!" the killer bee with spiked knuckles asked. The three were all surrounding this new common fighter, trying to protect their wounded queen.

 _"I never thought I'd see this group groveling for mercy,"_ Jundao's words echoed in Lori's mind. They watched as the orange fighter gripped his sword with both hands. He spun on his heels and swung wide, slashing all three of the oversized bugs backwards.

"I'll make her my servant by force then," he started approaching the wounded queen bee.

"No… _**please…**_ " she weakly begged. She had nowhere to run.

Lori was not able to watch this, her body began to move before her brain could even think. She pulled out her queen driver and ran into the scene.

 **"The regal retaliation! _Queen!_ "**

 _"My queen what are you doing?!"_ Jundao gasped. The unknown fighter swung his sword downward. A Loud clash rung throughout the room.

Lori, had swiftly transformed into Jewel, she had caught the attack with her shoulder. It had hit her hard enough to put her on one knee, trying to not collapse under the crushing weight of the weapon's hard swing along. The orange armored warrior looked to her standing between them and the leader of this small group of bugs.

" _Who…_ are you?" Lori coughed. She could not see through that helmet, but she could sense the piercing glare in his eyes.

"What is it you call yourself?A common fighter?" the young man replied, his gaze focused on the large bee behind her. The many monsters in the room were confused at what they were seeing. As far as the fracture beasts were concerned, common fighters like Jewel were hunting them.

"I suppose I shall adopt that name as well… you can call me, Common Fighter Frenzy," the man kicked Lori in the side, sending out a shockwave of pain throughout her wounded body. She fell onto the ground coughing.

She felt that evil, sinister aura radiating from Frenzy's body. The room was all in stunned silence. One thrust forward, and the sword drove into the queen's body. There was a scream and a gush of blue blood that spewed all over his weapon and forearm.

" **Boss!** "

" _Queen!_ "

" _ **No!**_ "

The many followers were in despair. Their leader was impaled through the chest, frozen stiff and stuck to the wall behind her.

"Run, everyone… you can survive without me," the leader insisted. Slowly and steadily, she began to turn to dust.

Her followers were reluctant to do this, but they all nodded, beginning to flee the old abandoned house, now that their leader, and their cohort, were both gone from their lives. The queen bee's body evaporated, leaving nothing but her core crystal fragment and blood resting on the sword.

 **"Yes, queen! _Weapon!_ "** the queen driver exclaimed. Frenzy looked over to see Lori holding her bladed bow, standing tall and with fire in her eyes.

"Common Fighter Frenzy…" the oldest Loud sister growled, "That is the stupidest name I've ever heard! You don't deserve to call yourself a common fighter! You're a common murderer!"

"So, what? Common Fighter's just a title. It's what people call us freaks. I couldn't care less what I deserve, but I have my own issues to handle," common Fighter Frenzy reached into a pouch on his side and pulled out a blank, heavily detailed card. He pressed the crystal fragment against the card, watching it glow brightly as it absorbed it. A second passed, and the queen bee appeared on the card. "This is one of the tools that will help me cherish my future," he slid the queen card away into the pouch full of many cards.

"We're not freaks! We're the only ones who have any chance of saving our world! People gotta rely on us, even if they don't want to!" Lori drew her bow string back, subtlety letting it begin to build up energy to prepare an arrow.

"You just took a deep wound to your shoulder protecting a monster. You're not fighting for the people," Frenzy wiped the blood off his sword, he slung it to the side with his hand after he was done cleaning it slightly, "You're fighting out of some dim hope that you can save not just this world, but also the last… which is already far beyond doomed. Sadly, for you, time never marches backwards. There's no saving this or the previous world you so love, you sad excuse for a queen."

"Is that wrong for me? Fate's the very thing that made me a queen! I'm going to at least try to be a good queen!" Jewel took aim and fired a pot shot of an arrow. The bolt of energy flew through the air, hitting Frenzy in the head, causing a small blast off his head.

He held his head, stumbling slightly. Lori ran up and swung upwards and slashed his chest with her bladed bow. A streak of blue aura knocked him back. Lori leaped toward her opponent. She landed a stab strong enough to knock him backwards into a wall so weak that he fell through it, kicking up clouds of dust.

Lori landed, and tried to relax. "I swear, every other common fighter in this city is a selfish bastard!" she shouted to the open air. She hoped that criminal had heard that.

Jewel suddenly felt her free arm get grabbed by a tight and furious grip. Lori instinctively tried to retaliate by slashing with her bow, but the weapon got stabbed through and pinned to the ground by her enemy's large sword. Her throat was grabbed, and she was flung against the mostly destroyed wall. Frenzy's helmet blazed with fury.

" ** _Selfish…!_ **That is the last thing I intend to be!" Frenzy threw a strong punch to Lori's helmet clad head, dazing her momentarily. He continued, the flurry of punches coming to her, each hit made her entire body ache in various degrees of agony. "I go every day of my life, giving up everything I have! My care, my love and my memories are all I have left… and I'm losing one of those things to protect the other two! I will not tolerate being called selfish!"

Frenzy delivered a knee to her stomach. Lori got forced onto her knees. She watched her enemy reach down and grab the handle on the side of his king driver, preparing for the finisher. Lori could see a weird ace in the slot holder, presumably acting as his transformation method.

Frenzy paused briefly. Things became silent, as he removed his hand from the handle. He picked up his sword before beginning to leave for some unknown reason. It was as if a timer in his head had gone off, telling him he was out of time to battle.

" _What was that about…?_ " Lori coughed. She took her queen driver off cancelling her transformation.

 _"My queen, are you okay?"_ Jundao questioned. Though even he knew that was a dumb question the moment it left his lips.

"I will be in a second… _I can't wait…_ " she muttered, letting the driver clatter to the ground beside her as she rummaged through her pocket.

 _"Why did you try to save them? They would have gladly killed you on the spot if they knew you were there to attack them,"_ Jundao questioned, worried about just this. It made no sense to him. Neither agreed to save any of the monsters in the mission.

"They weren't out of their minds with the infection… I'm weak…" Lori panted, pulling the core crystal fragment out from her pocket. Its red glow was bright in her palm. She knew Lisa would be annoyed with her, but she had no choice now. "Here goes…" Lori threw the crystal fragment into her mouth. She bit down before she swallowed. She panted, feeling her entire body begin to lose its stiffness. She was relieved that most of her injuries were minorly healing.

 _"Your benevolence will be the end of you if you keep trying to save those that are unable to be saved!"_ her contract wielding monster exclaimed. Lori began to force herself back onto her feet after picking her queen driver back up.

"Yeah… _I know…_ but my body tells me that I have to at least try," she sighed, looking at a broken mirror, which displayed her battered and bruise face from the punches she had gained.

 _"…If you want some good news, those monsters are going to hunt down that Frenzy individual now,"_ Jundao stated. There was no way that it would not happen now, though for someone going by the name Frenzy, that man was very good at restraining himself.

"Great… I don't even know who he is," Lori groaned. It was one thing to know a potential murderer was running around with the ability to transform. Yet having someone she knew nearly nothing about was far worse. She would never be able to predict that person, nor how big of a threat they were to Royal Woods as a whole.

 _"We'll unmask their identity next time,"_ Jundao stated. Their injuries had hindered them too much. The blonde woman began to leave the now partially destroyed home, holding her shoulder. She was thankful the armor had taken the worst of the sword. That weight it had held was more painful than anything.

"Let's get home. I'm starving, and I don't think a crystal's a filling meal," Lori chuckled, surprisingly able to stay positive at this moment. She began to make her way down the sidewalk into the later morning day.

* * *

Not so far away from the house the brawl had just taken place in, common fighter Frenzy stepped into a small garage for privacy. When he was sure nothing was around. He reached down and took his king's driver off his waist.

"Man, that bow stings…" he reached into the side and pulled out an ace from the driver, seeing a shadowy figure on it. Frenzy began to shrink in size partially. His armor vanished, the white-haired figure emerged from it. "I didn't even get that crystal fragment. Jewel probably made off with it by now," Lincoln held his head. Jewel had interfered with his objective. It irritated him.

 ** _"Don't worry!"_** a young voice giggled in his ear, making the bucktoothed boy smile, _**"You got a new ally on our side now! We're off to a great start!"**_

"You're right, Lizzy… I should be happy enough that we've made a new friend," Lincoln hummed as he put the driver and cards away into his pockets. He began to leave the small garage, going to find Lynns bike.

 _ **"Those other monsters'll come after you now, you know,"**_ said Lizzy. He made a contracted deal with her, _**"And boy, those bees are bloodthirsty."**_

"I hope they do. It'll make things easier that way," Lincoln shrugged not caring since they had not put up much of a fight due to how his surprise attack went on their group. He had taken out their strongest members. It will be a cakewalk now.

 _ **"Can we go get lunch? I'm hungry,"**_ Lizzy asked.

"Yeah, sure… I'm guessing you want a grilled cheese?" Lincoln asked as he made his way back home via bicycle. He had left after lying to Lynn that he was taking off to Clyde's place. He had no clue how much time that would have bought him.

 _ **"Yes!"**_ chimed Lizzy, _**"Your world's a lot better than mine just for that food!"**_

"Out of everything my planet's gotten through in a million years, we're gonna be known as the world that makes a mean grilled cheese… man, my life really is a joke," Lincoln shook his head, not sure if he should find that funny or sad.

 ** _"Cheer up! We make a great team! With my armor, you can't lose!"_** Lizzy cheered, her voice somehow sounded far worse than all ten of his family in a shouting match, but he was used to it.

" _Yeah…_ I hope you're right," Lincoln replied, trying to focus on the peace and ignoring the large bruise on his head and chest from where Jewel had attacked him, they were so bad that his skull was partially bleeding even.

 _ **"I sure am!"**_ hummed Lizzy. She would be by his side. Even if he lost all of his memories in the process as far as he cared.

 _ **"Just leave the thinking to me from now on, Daddy..."**_


	17. Return Home

_**A/N: Hey all, JAP-TW here to apologize because, well, chapters are gonna start taking longer to get out because I want them to be longer. I've also been learning how to make pictures in source filmmaker, and it's hit and hit with timeframes. I just want you to know that the stories fine just gonna take a bit longer for the chapters due to me wanting them to be longer. Enjoy.**_

* * *

Lori made her way home on foot. She was getting a few looks from some passing people due to her injuries, though she was more lost in her thoughts than anything.

"I knew one day I'd regret not having my own car, but I sure didn't think it'd be this soon," she huffed. She knew it took time to get from place to place, but it was even worse when she was wounded.

 _"You certainly have a high tolerance for pain,"_ Jundao commented, though it was not like his contract holder had much of a choice when it came to dealing with it.

"First came a queen driven by nothing," sounded a familiar voice, "Then a being made from desperate passion. Then a king was born in the haze of their memories."

Lori looked over to see Kurutta leaned against a vending machine with a very punch worthy smile plastered on his face. "Nice to see you again too," Lori continued walking by, trying not to pay the government agent any attention.

Kurutta adjusted his feathered boa on his shoulders before beginning to follow along with her. "You aren't curious how I know about the other drivers already?" he asked, sounding disappointed from her lack of interest.

"My brain's not exactly all together right now, but I remember Lisa saying she called you yesterday to talk about the robbery," Lori replied. Her head hurt just from talking to this man at the moment.

"Cameras in the building. I knew about the hotel thanks to them... The king's kinda been a bit less subtle with his actions. One of my co-workers had a run in with him last night," Kurutta began explaining while they walked side by side together, the topic change seemed to garter her attention now.

"What happened to him?" Lori asked. At least she might get more information about the new common fighter through this talk, though at this rate she assumed the other agent had been slaughtered in cold blood by Frenzy.

"He was investigating a monster when that monster got the jump on him instead," explain Kurutta, "Then your royal rival saved him."

" _Saved him…?_ " Lori stopped walking. She was confused. "Frenzy? That idiot just wants to force others to do his bidding!"

The government agent turned to her, not surprised by her disbelief of Frenzy's heroism. "I'm not saying he wasn't rough during the rescue, dislocated my guys shoulder when he threw'em outta the way. He only wanted the monster's core crystal fragment. He put it in a pouch and walked away, leaving my friend there like he was meant to tell the tale. Sure, it's weird, but it's true."

 _"He wants to gather servants to aid him. Whatever his end goal may be, it far rivals our own,"_ Jundao's voice echoed within his contract holder's mind.

"I went to the other world. It was to escape Flare. Then I wound up fighting Frenzy when I was hunting monsters," Lori sighed. She had to admit that it was thanks to Frenzy that was alive now. She would not have been able to get the core crystal fragment, even if she essentially stole it, if he weren't around.

"No wonder you look so awful. The last person to go into the other world didn't come back, so at least you got that much on the death row test rats we use," Kurutta claimed. He was surprised, yet happy to see a survivor return from the other world. Though as they made to turn around a corner, he grabbed the Loud's still-healing shoulder, stopping her in place.

" **What?** " Lori groaned from the surge of pain in her body, "I need to go home."

"Soon, but first," Kurutta rummaged through his pockets, until he pulled out a small key ring with a single key connected to it. "My boss insisted to give you a personal present. You're the _'biggest'_ source of information to him so far, and by _'biggest'_ he means most cooperative," he put the key into her palm before he pointed to the curb along the sidewalk.

Lori looked that direction, and her groggy expression started to light up. " _Whoa…_ " she stared, awestruck. A motorcycle rested on its kickstand. The bright white and blue paintjob was prominent, as was its broad streak pattern that shimmered under the sunlight. "A motorcycle? You guys really want to give me this? For _free?_ " the blonde woman was not sure why she was excited by this. She never had an interest in motorcycles, yet for some reason, seeing one right here, just for her, made her feel like it was Christmas morning.

"Well, not free. I mean, you're a hero now… consider it a pink slip salvage reward for your heroism. And don't worry, we'll handle upgrading your license," Kurutta reassured. He let Lori go to her new vehicle. She was unsure if she should be amazed at this or terrified.

 _"You know how to ride a bicycle right?"_ Jundao asked his queen.

"Yeah, _just…_ This is a lot different," she took the helmet off the back. She wondered how much of this Kurutta had planned. She could have easily walked the other way on the sidewalk when they met.

"Thanks for this Kuru…-" Lori turned around, but she saw no government worker. She shrugged, letting him go on his merry way. " _Well…_ let's give it a shot," she bravely slipped the helmet over her head and secured it. She then hopped onto the motorcycle.

 _"Are you excited or scared?"_ Jundao questioned. He saw it as a good thing though. It gave them a means to get around faster.

"Both. Excitedly scared is a good title for the story that is my life," Lori put the key in the ignition and turned it. The engine revved to life, sounding like it had just come off the assembly line. Her heart felt shaken with pure thrill. "Okay, now I just grab and turn this…" Lori gripped the throttle. The motorcycle suddenly shot off almost instantly with her on it, the tires screeching down the road with her scream of surprise echoing through the air.

"Well, that went better than I expected," Kurutta stepped out from the alleyway he had been hiding in. "I set these wheels in motion. Now time to just play the waiting game," Kurutta stretched and began to walk away with proud stride.

* * *

Lisa had been spending the early morning working. She had been examining the organic shard she had retrieved from Lori when she was first infected, mainly just to give herself a task to distract herself from the worry of her siblings absence.

" _Hm…_ That's odd. It appears the DNA has been altered at its very core…" the second youngest Loud sister mumbled. So many questions kept rising as she researched those crystals, and answering one question made even more confusing mysteries appear. Some scientists would be pleased with just the experience, though that feeling of excitement had long since worn off for the likes of her.

The genius soon heard a scream, a motorcycle engine roaring, and a light crashing sound, all come from outside.

" _Oh dear…_ " the child prodigy hopped off from her seat and ran outside.

* * *

The prodigy saw Luna outside by their now knocked over garbage cans. A motorcycle had crashed into them. The rock star lover was trying to help the motorist up

"What happened here?" the young genius questioned, wondering if she had to call paramedics. Car crashes weren't unusual for their neighborhood, but motorcycle wrecks were a new one.

"They tried to brake. They throttled instead…" Luna claimed, finally getting the driver back on their feet.

"Thanks Luna…" Lori grumble, taking her helmet off. Her two sisters' eyes bulged out of their sockets at the sight of her.

" **Lori?!** What are you doing with a motorcycle?" Luna asked with her mouth agape.

"It was a present," Lori stood the bike back up, "Sorry about being late to get home," she put the helmet on the back of the motorcycle. She felt her sisters both hug her tight when she turned back around to them. It made pain course through her many injuries. " _ **Geh!**_ _Wh-_ what's the hugging about?!" the blonde woman panted, trying to resist crying out in pain.

"What do you mean what's the hugging about?" Luna countered. She wished she didn't have to explain why to her. "You were missing! Everyone was trying to get ahold of you!"

"Half of our family has been out searching for you since this morning," Lisa added. She was more or less glad that her sister would be alright, even with how hurt she looked.

"I really owe you too," the rock lover broke the embrace. Lori tried to tolerate her aching injuries now. The partial healing had made them look better, but still bad.

"Owe me for what?" Lori raised an eyebrow as she wheeled her new vehicle into the garage. She wondered if her littler sisters were trying to score points with her for some reason?

"For helping me with Sam! I dunno what you said to her, but she's not afraid to go on stage anymore! We get to perform live in four days!" Luna explained with clear joy in her voice. Sam was no longer reclusive. Luna's heart felt free from that heavy weight.

 _"I hope Pelacur does not interfere. He certainly seems clingy,"_ Jundao commented within his contract holders mind. She simply ignored his statement trying to subtlety tell him to not distract her.

"You don't owe me anything Luna. I'm just glad to help," Lori got out the motorcycle's kickstand and let it rest idly in the garage. "I'd appreciate it if you'd go grab the first aid kit for me though."

"Got it," Luna nodded. She ran off to fetch it, leaving the other two in the garage together.

"You got ahold of a core crystal fragment I presume?" Lisa questioned, mainly going off how well her practical second mother appeared. Though clearly her disappointment at the lacking of a chance to examine it was obvious.

" _More like stole it…_ By the way, I found your sealed drivers," Lori took a seat on one of the few chairs they had stored in the garage. She was exhausted from how crazy the last day and a half had been. Her adrenaline was not keeping her going anymore.

" _ **You did?!**_ Where are they?" Lisa was eager. She hopped onto the stool beside Lori to try and help treat her injuries.

"They're no longer sealed… I'm sorry, Lisa. Bad people have got their hands on them," the heroic Loud apologized. She felt terrible to be delivering the news, it was better to hear it from her directly than from a news report talking about the new common fighters.

" _They…_ They have?" Lisa sounded destroyed. She was afraid to inquire further, and yet she would not be able to avoid it. Let alone ignore her curiosity for long. "Do you know who has them?" she tried to keep that straight face on, but her upset inner child was clear as day, and her oldest sister could not blame her. Any scientist would be upset about a stolen creation.

"I don't know who has the second one. Kess Ando has the first one though," Lori replied. She guessed Lisa knew that man's name, since it was hard to go anywhere without him appearing in the news. "He was behind the hotel fire. He made a contract with that flame monster."

"I can't believe this…" Lisa held her head, "Both of the drivers I worked so hard on… stolen by a serial killer," Lisa whimpered. Imagining Kess had snuck into their home to steal the sealed drivers upset her greatly. Though when she thought on it, it did not make any sense to her.

"Hey, hey, don't cry it isn't your fault," Lori tried to reassure her little sister, though her words did little to. She could barely stand to see any of her family drowning in despair.

Lisa felt herself get picked up and brought into a tight hug. Lori was trying to be comforting. The young genius did not know why, but this embrace gave her a dim ray of hope. The toddler rested her head on Lori's shoulder, trying to return the hug with her short arms.

"I don't think he's a killer…" Lori broke the silence. Her younger sibling looked up to her.

"How could he not be? He's running from the law, already killed his wife, and like you said, he lit that hotel on fire!" Lisa cried. Her sister couldn't be so blind as to defend a killer.

"He's an arsonist, a moron and now a common fighter. But he's not a murderer," Lori put her second youngest sibling back down once she had calmed. "I talked with him. He started that fire in the hotel to try and get ahold of some rookie cop by cornering them in the fire. He's too desperate to be doing this just to falsely prove his innocence... What I saw, was a man living a life of nothing left to lose."

"I suppose that much is true. As a lawyer, he should have a lot of easier means of making himself innocent, if he was the killer…" Lisa held her head. She started to feel frustrated with this, and how two other common fighters were running around without any real predictability to their patterns. "We'll have to handle these problems as they arise. Avoid crossing their paths, wherever possible," the glasses wearing girl said. She was wondering what the holdup was with Luna.

"It's not all bad news… I've made a decision, Lisa," the secret hero tried to change to the brighter side of the conversation.

Lisa looked up to her oldest sister, curious. "Yes, Lori?"

"I decided before I went into that hotel that… I have to live as a hero. Especially now that I've seen what the other people with powers like mine do," Lori tried to sound proud of her decision. She would have to get used to the many villains trying to kill her more often, not just the other humans who can transform.

"Near death experiences tend to force a perspective change on someone's life," Lisa stated, sounding happy to hear this. Lori looked over at Lynn's personal weights resting in the garage for her personal use.

"I need to get stronger. I went into the other world to escape Kess. I don't want to even imagine any of that happening here, even if all I can do is buy time," Lori sighed. Their future was looking grim. It was even worse that she was simply just trying to buy time out of dim hope of a cure.

"Training when your body's injured is a foolish idea, to say the least," Lisa commented, casting a glance at the motorcycle. She had a clean idea that Kurutta was involved with her retrieving it. There was no need to ask her.

"Sorry for the wait! I had to help Lincoln," Luna called out, re-entering the garage with a hum to her voice.

"Wait, did something happen to him?" Lori asked, willing to go check on their only brother.

"Nah… He took a bad spill off Lynn's bike when he was getting something from Clyde's. I took care of him," Luna reassured. A worst it was just a little bruise on Lincoln's head.

"Everyone's getting so happy lately. It's nice to see that for a change…" Luna spoke as she started to bandage up Lori's arm, while Lisa began to work on her legs.

"It really is…" Lori nodded, "You should probably call everyone to let them know I'm home. By the time they get back, I'll be taking a nap."

"I'll do it," Lisa volunteered, "I imagine most of them are becoming quite tired now," the genius then left for the door, leaving the two older siblings in the family behind.

"Never thought I'd see you riding a motorcycle," the aspiring rock star could not help but to comment.

"Neither did I… It's great though," Lori smirked. Most of her family were going to be begging to have turns riding on it. She tried to not dwell on that thought.

"Seriously though, I can't thank you enough for helping me with Sam! What'd you say to her?" Luna sounded like she was begging to know. She had not been able to help her best friend alone, yet somehow her oldest sibling did.

"I told her to just talk to you," Lori told her younger sister. She had been worried that her words had done nothing. But she was relieved to know that either those words did, or that Sam was worried that Lori would blackmail her with the information of Pelacur otherwise.

"Oh!" Luna nodded, "Well really…!"

Lori cleared her throat. "I won't let you near my bike if you say you owe me again," she warned. She just knew Luna was going to keep thanking her. She had enough gratitude thrown at her for one day.

" _Sorry…_ Well, you'll definitely get free backstage passes when I becime big," Luna claimed. She finished the last of the bandaging. It covered Lori like a bad mummy costume on Halloween.

"Thanks, Luna. I appreciate the help… I'm gonna lay down while I can," Lori took off to try and get the nap she so wanted. She felt uneasy for some reason. Luna simply stayed behind to clean up the small mess.

* * *

On a rooftop in another part of Royal Woods, the three bee monsters resided. Their queen and their comrade were gone, with no way to bring them back. It was just them now, talking amongst themselves.

"What do we do?" the wasp questioned, sharpening one of his daggers on the crystal infection running along his arm. Some of the infectious rocks crumbled off, only to quickly grow back in place.

"We kill the common fighters. That's what," the hornet growled, trying to make more arrows for their bow.

"What do you mean? One of those common fighters tried to save our queen," the killer bee said to his fellow monsters, laying back and trying to recover from their physical exhaustion after the battle with Frenzy today.

"They want to kill us all!" said the gauntlet wielding hornet, "If we don't get them, they'll get us."

"I have his scent. We can get them whenever you two are ready," the bee looked over to their comrade, who had finished sharpening their blades.

"We need to make a plan first! Our queen would have wanted us to not rush," the wasp pointed out over the ledge, down to the populated streets below. There they saw the many Royal Woods inhabitants going about their day. Even with the existence of monsters being known to them they treated their day as normal.

"Get yourselves ready for tomorrow," instructed the hornet, "I'll start scouting for the best locations to set up my plan."

 _ **"Alright... for our fallen allies."**_


	18. Revelations

The last day and a half was spent by Lori being waited on nearly hand and foot by her family. When they came home, they gave her many questions about the motorcycle. She gave a variety of lies ranging from it being a way to ward off a midlife crisis, to it being a gift from someone.

" ** _Twenty nine… thirty…!_** " Lori grunted. She was bench pressing a large weight that belonged to Lynn. It was not the heaviest, though the blonde woman wanted to get stronger, so she added extra weights onto them.

"Lori, honey, maybe you should take it easy," Rita spoke to her firstborn from nearby, while trying to clean the garage. She had told the other children to give their oldest sister space while their parent watched out for her.

"I just took a break, mom," Lori put the weight back on its holder before sitting back up, grabbing the nearby hand towel to wipe off her sweat.

"Three hours ago! I'm happy you're taking responsibility for your powers, but if you push yourself too hard while you're recovering, then you'll hurt yourself even worse," Rita exclaimed. All of their family had told the young blonde woman this already, but even so she seemed to barely register or acknowledge it.

"I'm sorry mom… but I have to get stronger," Lori apologized. her mother became joyful when she first heard the news about her decision to be a hero, although it did little to calm her nerves, especially since the secret hero refused to tell where she had been when she was missing.

 _"You should listen to your mother, my queen,"_ Jundao called out to her mind, _"Mother knows best, as they say…"_

"I already have enough things to stress about. I was hoping you'd have picked a nice little car when you were buying one. Now I have to worry about you on that motorcycle," Rita expressed her further worries. The motorcycle was great for hurrying to places, but that thought alone and the risk made her terrified enough. It made Lynn Sr. even more scared.

"Don't worry about me, mom. I'm getting the hang of everything now," Lori tried to reassure. She had gotten some more riding practice in by going around the block a few times, though giving her family members a chance to ride it was the best excuse for getting practice in.

"Sorry to intrude, but I have your test results Lori," Lisa spoke up, entering the garage. She held a piece of paper in her hands that she brought over to her practical second mother.

"Tests? What for?" Lori quirked an eyebrow. She never asked for medical tests of anything.

"Your pregnancy test, the results were negative," Lisa went to her workbench. Her older sister looked annoyed.

"Well that's good, isn't it honey?" Rita asked. She did hate to imagine her needing any pregnancy tests though, since Bobby was not around a lot recently. It made the mother slightly worried.

"Yeah… it's just hard to be happy with this overwhelming sense of personal violation," Lori threw the paper aside before standing up and stretching.

"Apologies," replied Lisa, "It's just that Lincoln suggested perhaps your sudden personality change was a side effect of pregnancy, like when Mom was carrying Lily."

" _Great…_ I'm gonna go check on Lincoln," the oldest Loud excused herself. She wished to scold their little brother, and make sure he was alright, since Lisa claimed he had wound up partially concussed from the supposed fall off his bike the other day.

"Lisa, how many times have me and your father told you not to run tests without permission?" Rita asked her second youngest child. That was perhaps the hundredth time she had to say it.

"Sorry. I'm a bit overloaded by my work as of late to recount the exact amount," Lisa went back to her computer to begin looking over the many reports of today for any oddities.

* * *

Lori was halfway up the staircase when she could hear squabbling going on upstairs. The secret hero sighed before trying to hurry up to see what was going on.

Lori was surprised to see a lack of violence in this fight. This was a rarity for their home. She could see Luan Lynn Lola and Lana, mostly on the verge of screaming levels of arguing. Leni was standing nearby, and Lincoln looking worriedly confused beside the second oldest sibling.

"Leni, what's going on?" the oldest Loud sister asked her slightly younger sibling, not really able to understand the rest of their family's overlapping bickering. Lincoln was just watching instead of trying to end the squabble. He wasn't making an effort to break up the argument, or even be the peacekeeper that he usually was for some reason.

"I don't know. I was coming from the bathroom and this happened, Lincy was really confused," Leni replied, just as lost as their only brother.

Lori shook her head, irritated. Thankfully all it took was one quick very loud whistle to stop the fight between nearly half their family. "What's going on?" the oldest Loud asked her younger sisters, "And only one person at a time!" Lori swiftly added, pointing to Luan randomly to go first.

"Lincoln promised this morning that he'd help me practice my new magic tricks this evening!" stated the bucktoothed braces wearing comedian.

"The party's tonight and I finally got him to agree to go with me while we were having lunch," Lynn claimed, sounding more upset than the others at the thought of all her hard work now going to waste.

"One of my snakes vanished so he was about to help me find it," Lana added, more worried about the snake scaring everyone than it actually doing any harm.

"I need a butler for my tea party, and he just said he would do it!" Lola growled to her twin, the two looking about ready to wrestle each other. Leni looked to their oldest sister, wondering why their brother had agreed to do too many tasks at once. This was not the first time Lincoln had done this either, however this was the first time that he seemingly took on so many agreements that he forgot some of them.

"Alright, alright, I know how to handle this," their oldest sister claimed, "Lincolns all yours Lynn," she motioned those two to leave.

" _ **Really?!**_ Thanks Lori!" Lynn looked happy about this decision. She grabbed Lincoln by his wrist before dragging him down the steps. He did not really have much of a chance to talk to her about it.

The others began to chew out their oldest sister. Leni could only watch, not sure what to do to help her sibling, nor if she should.

"Why does she get Lincoln?!"

"I was first!"

"That's no fair!"

 _"They are quite rampageous with their vocabularies, aren't they?"_ Jundao commented, watching from his contract holder's eyes.

" _Boy, isn't that the truth…_ " the blonde woman muttered. Shortly after though, when the yelling did not die down, she drove her fist against the wall with a loud bash from the impact. It was just enough to quiet them down at the slightest glance of her rage.

"Lincoln and Lynn have hit a real rough patch recently. This is a chance for them to sort it out," Lori calmly, but sternly spoke. She motioned them all to get back to what they were doing, mainly out of fear of making their oldest sister angry when her mood had been so bright recently.

" _Uhm…_ Why'd you do that Lori?" Leni requested, confused. The two started to make their way back downstairs.

"They can't be mad at Lincoln for making a choice if he wasn't the one to make it," Lori responded. That was how their family was. The younger half wanted their only brothers attention a lot more, but when he had to pick between multiple of them, he always wound up with one or more sisters holding a rather petty grudge with him. "This way, no one will be mad at him. He can relax and get out for a night. Plus, hopefully, Lynn can make up for whatever it was she did to make him mad."

" _Aw…_ that's really sweet, Lori… And smart too. Lisa's starting to rub off on you," Leni complimented her older sister. It was strange to her though. So much of her family was changing at once before Leni's eyes. It was pretty hard for her to get used to it, yet it was nice to have less fighting as well.

"I'm just glad I don't have to worry about being a bad influence anymore," the oldest loud sister sighed. That worry in her mind tortured her over the last year of her life.

 _"A queen should do what they think is right, even if their family is royal. It doesn't incline you to take all the responsibility for them,"_ Jundao commented. His statement annoyed her slightly.

" _Be quiet for a bit,_ " Lori quietly hissed. She noticed Leni looking at her with a raised eyebrow. " _I-_ it's nothing. Just go back to what you were doing."

"Okay…" Leni went off to do handle her business. Lori let out a relieved sigh, beginning to head back to the garage, wanting to continue working out.

"Do you really have to tell her?" Lori heard her mother's voice at the garage door.

"I'm sorry, Mom, but there's a monster appearance, and Lori needs their core crystal shard," Lisa insisted an alert had popped up, indicating that there was a monster seen. They had plenty of time to let the child prodigy examine it this time as well.

"Why does she need these monster parts? What is it you two are keeping from me?" Rita stared at her genius daughter. There were still secrets obviously being kept from her. She was scared. What could be worse than Lori being a hero and risking her life that it garnered such secrecy, she pondered.

"We got a monster?" Lori chimed up as she entered unannounced, surprising her family members.

"Yes. It's one of those bee creatures which you reported had escaped Frenzy. It has supposedly been seen patrolling a heavily populated location in the east," Lisa explained. She was already in the process of texting Jewel the address on her phone.

"I'll be ready for them then," Lori turned on her heels to get to her motorcycle.

"Wait!" Rita grabbed her forearm, "Lori… what is it you two aren't telling me about these monsters? Why did you have to start hunting them?"

"Mom… _I…_ I need to hunt them, it's just my life now," the secret hero decided to reply. It was not worth the trouble to lie about anything further. It wasn't like her life being in constant danger was anything new now.

"Why? I know I said you had a responsibility now with your powers, but that doesn't mean you have to risk your life for every last one," Rita argued, now uncertain if her advise had backfired partially or not.

Lisa awkwardly coughed, adjusting her glasses. She only hoped to help her eldest sister in this situation. "A few weeks ago, Lori was infected with a crystal. The infection is all throughout her body now and there is no way to cure them without a core crystal fragment. Plus, the cure only lasts eight days... Without one, the infection would rampage through her body at a slow pace until she dies."

" _What…?_ " the loud mothers voice was weak, until she raised it,"You're telling me that all this time you've been dying? One of my babies is dying slowly and you thought this was something to keep from me?!" she was torn between being angry and breaking down from despair at the thought of this alone.

"I didn't think it was important compared to the rest of the stuff," Lori sighed, feeling overwhelmed. Her head was fuller of information than ever now. She had told Lisa everything that she had learned of the other world from Jundao. The prodigy said it was most likely unhelpful information when Lori thought otherwise.

"We need to get you to a hospital!" Rita stammered, "Maybe they have something that can help or…"

"Mom," Lori pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry. There's nothing that they can do for me that Lisa couldn't have done already. I have to buy time for myself enough time for either Lisa to find a cure or for my body to become immune to it," Lori apologetically explained, her head rested on their mothers shoulder.

Lisa watched the scene, feeling terrible at how rough their mother had it with this sudden revelation. "The second is just a possible theory," the child prodigy corrected. She was not certain if this infection behaved like most diseases in this world. She considered trying to surgically remove them, but the places the crystals were embedded naturally within Lori's body were too dangerous to even cut near without it being fatal.

"It'll be fine mom. I'm happier than I have been in years," the blonde woman broke the embrace. She saw tears on her mother's face.

"How can you possibly be happier? You're telling me you're happy that you're dying?" their mother asked, feeling more upset wondering if the entire family had been missing on a state of crippling depression her daughter had.

" _N-_ no, mom! I'm not suicidal! I have a reason to wake up every morning now, and having something to work toward," Lori tried to elaborate on it further but she had no real words to describe how she truly felt with this matter, "I have a purpose in my life now other than just being a dopey teenage moron, like half of my old classmates have turned out to be."

"Lori," Lisa interjected, "I hate to rush you, but you need to investigate the monster appearance, before you miss it."

"Right," Lori nodded, "We'll talk more later if you want to, mom. I have to get to work for now though," she went to her motorcycle to get ready to track down one of the bee monsters now that they had appeared, hoping she could handle this peacefully. Rita though was at a major loss for words, and could only watch as her eldest daughter got the motorcycle ready.

* * *

Lincoln stared at the bathroom mirror, trying to get ready for the party that he was going to with Lynn. Yet something felt wrong about it, and his brain couldn't find why.

"I can't even remember any of what they were complaining about.., Lizzy?" he spoke in a stern tone to the empty bathroom. His head did slightly throb momentarily.

 _ **"Yes, daddy?"**_ Lizzy's sweet voice spoke up for him from an echo from the back of his head.

"Have you been eating memories without permission, again?" he asked, while leaned against the sink.

 _ **"You said I could eat the memories that weren't important!"**_ Lizzy whined like a child demanding extra sweets. Frenzy reached into his pocket and pulled out the king's driver, looking it over as if he needed to view it regularly to remind himself that this was his reality now and it was not a dream.

"I'm pretty sure my most recent memories are important to have," Lincoln took out a small pouch. Half a dozen core crystal fragments shined brightly inside of it.

 _ **"I need bigger to eat!"**_ Lizzy complained, **_"I need the big memories to make me full or one of those shiny crystals! Can I have one? Pleaaaase, daddy?"_**

"These aren't cookies," Lincoln huffed, "You get one every time our bond gets stronger. I know we don't have the normal contract the other common fighters are meant to have." He knew that Lizzy had a hard to satiate appetite. Not even her favorite grilled cheese sandwiches helped fully tame it. "You can have the earliest memories I have. Say, before I was a one year old."

 _ **"Aww… but those are so vague that they'll be mushy!"**_ Lizzy groaned, disappointed.

"I'm not telling you to pick and choose from them," elaborated Lincoln, "I'm saying you can have all of my memories from my first year of life, starting at when I was born."

 _ **"Really?! ALL of them?!"**_ gasped the overjoyed Lizzy, **_"Thank you, daddy! You're the best!"_**

"Don't mention it," Lincoln shook his head. He had been making Lizzy hold off on eating his memories in most regards with the use of the core crystal fragments, using them the same way as someone would use a reward system to a child that was having learning difficulties. He figured there was no need for memories of him crying for milk or babbling randomly, but he still almost regretted letting her eat them. He just wished she had not eaten memories of whatever he promised he'd do for this sisters today.

"Lincoln? You alright in there?" Lynn knocked on the door. She heard him talking, which she presumed was to himself, and it was mostly muffled through the door.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" Lincoln called back. He pocketed the king's driver and put the pouch of core crystal fragments away securely on his person. He still felt as though the party was a bad idea. Yet he shrugged it off and left the bathroom, hoping they wouldn't be late for it.

* * *

In another part of Royal Woods, in a foreclosed home, Kess lay on a stolen mattress, unable to relax while he laid in pain.

" _Damn…_ I didn't expect Jewel to be that strong…" the lawyer accused of murder coughed. His ribs felt like they had been kicked into his lungs from that finisher Lori had done to him. His Flare suit had barely taken the hit at all.

The middle-aged man began hearing muffled screaming. "Maybe some fun will distract me from my pain," Kess groaned, pulling himself out of the bed and beginning to make his way through the small home. Only the sun shone through the closed blinds to give it light.

There was a young man in a police uniform tied to a chair with his mouth taped shut. The monster of living flames, Ash, was nearby. The man had fire blazing on his legs. The flames were small for the moment, but they had been there for quite some time and were putting the man through constant agony.

"He say anything yet?" Kess questioned the monster he had a contract with.

"Nothing I can understand," the mask-faced monster replied. The flames kept scorching the rookie officer's legs. This had been going on for over a day with barely any relief. The top of his legs nearly lost their flesh. Blood and boils were the cause of the third-degree burns.

"Okay then. Stop the flames for now," Kess ordered the monster, "I need to talk to him."

"Of course," Ash snapped his fingers, and the flames dissipated swiftly. Kess focused on the officer.

"Now, before I rip that tape off your ugly face, let me just tell you that it doesn't matter how loud you scream. We're in a backwash illegal immigrant stuffed neighborhood, so no one's gonna call the cops over something as small as wordless hollering," Kess reached over to the counter beside them and picked up the badge that he had taken from the cop. It read _'Officer Madao'_. He threw the badge aside and took the duct tape off the man's mouth. "Alright, Officer Madao. Hope you had some time to enjoy the heat. Now get talking. What did you discover?" Kess was impatient. His monster kept to the side.

"I don't know anything worth the breath!" Madao cried, "I'm just a new officer on the force!"

"Quit stalling! You were the one in charge of the Miranda Ando case! Now tell me what you found!" Kess stomped on one of the officer's burned legs. The footprint sent out a shockwave of pain that made Madao scream his lungs out.

" _St-_ stop! Stop! Stop!" the young newbie cop explained through his choked, pained sobs. "That investigation never happened! They didn't let me get past taking some pictures and the autopsy report was retracted by the coroner!"

"Retracted…? Where are the pictures and the report?" Kess took his foot off the officer's near destroyed limbs.

" _The-_ they were in my hotel room! I couldn't grab them when I had to evacuate…" Madao stated. The fire had been too bad for him to even get the important evidence to escape with.

" _…I might've had an oversight in that brilliant plan of mine,_ " Kess murmured, looking to Ash. It took blame for this. He only followed the plan his contract holder had laid out for them. "What do you remember of the report? Why was it called off?"

"Nothing about it made sense. It was a break an enter robbery, yet nothing was stolen or broken. I-it was like she got attacked in the same place at the same direction only for it to happen again and again with barely any resistance shown on her body, yet cause of death was unknown," the officer described. It was like three people had been murdered all at the same time in the lawyers home instead of just one.

"The report was retracted because it was all wrong. None of it made sense. It was like something appeared in the home from thin air," he finished with a whimper as the pain was starting to well up again.

Kess began to stare off as some of the dots connected in his head. "It wasn't a monster of a human that killed Miranda. It was an actual monster…?" he looked to his monster. Ash did not respond. But it certainly sounded like an unfortunate case of bad luck where a fracture opened. "But why would a monster want to kill my wife? Why'd they ransack the place to steal everything? They wouldn't have done that if they were out of their mind either…?" Kess held his head. Nothing made sense. The first clue to finding his wife's murderer left more confusion than anything.

Kess turned to his partner of a monster. "Ash, burn his legs to stubs and throw him at the first hospital you can."

" **What?!** " Madao cried, "No! Please! I have a daughter I have to take care of! Without my legs, I'll be off the force for sure!"

"Good," Kess began to leave to lay back down, holding his chest in pain. He had a lot to think about. "You made my life a living hell. You all tried to pin the blame on me when I did nothing. I'm making an example on what happens to those who treat the law lazily. You know what they say; what goes around, comes around. Light'em up, Ash," Kess headed off to the other room. The burning monster approached him, more than happy to listen to the cops screaming once again.


	19. Fruits of Training

_**A/N: Hey all, I just wanted to say that I hope you all have a merry christmas and a happy new year! I'm sorry if this chapter seems short I had to handle a lot an it seemed like the best place to end off the chapter. Once again, have a good one an take care, all reviews are appreciated really.**_

* * *

Lori sped down the road as fast as she could go to the eastern part of Royal Woods, unsure what to expect out of this upcoming encounter with the bee monster, though she doubted that they would be alone.

 _"What could they be up to? They wouldn't be patrolling if they weren't ready to execute their plan…"_ Jundao spoke to his contract holder, finding this all so strange.

"They're probably trying to hunt down Frenzy, like you said they would," Lori replied, trying to focus on the road. She wondered if this would be her opportunity to possibly learn Common Fighter Frenzy's identity.

 _"And the place they were spotted at is… a plaza?"_ Jundao did not know exactly what a plaza was, but it did not sound good, knowing a large amount of civilians would be there.

"It was a run down neighborhood that got remodeled into a tourist trap, but it didn't work out, so now it's kind of just two giant strip malls," Lori explained. She loved going there sometimes. Her whole family did. But even they all knew how irritating it could be at times, especially if they were just trying to pass through.

Jewel felt an odd sensation in her body. She looked upward to notice an all too familiar looking oversized monster flying ahead.

 _"There he is!"_ Jundao pointed out. Lori had no clue how to handle an airborne enemy, but she knew she had to be ready to fight. She got her queen's driver out, holding it to her waist and letting the belt shoot out and wrap around her before hooking back up to the driver itself.

 **"Drivah ready!"** the queen's driver called out energetically.

"Here we go," Lori pulled out the blue sphere gem before putting it into the driver, hoping this would at least work while she was on her motorcycle.

 ** _"Gotta be ready to transform! Gotta be ready to transform! Gotta be ready to transform!"_**

 _ **"Transform!"**_ she spun the dial with her full force. The crystal sphere splitting into multiple pieces as it filled the empty spots of the queen's driver.

 **" _Queen?_ Ready!"** the driver chimed as the white suit appeared on Lori with a fracture appearing ahead of her in the air. The large crystal ball fell out and landed on her beck as she drove under it. **"The Regal Retaliation! _Queen!_ "** the driver finished as the jewel ball changed into her armor around her suit. The hero in white and blue let out a relieved sigh once the helmet appeared on her head.

"So, speed doesn't matter when transforming… That's a relief," Lori muttered. She put the full throttle out in her motorcycle, beginning to go all out with her speed to try and follow the monster overhead.

* * *

Common Fighter Jewel wound up following the oversized bee for a good mile and a half. She did not like how they were getting surrounded by so many people on the streets.

 _"Wait it's slowing down…"_ Jundao pointed her to the bee monster who turned around before pulling out its bow and beginning to draw back the string.

" ** _No way…!_** " Lori gasped as she forced her motorcycle to come to a sudden halt, the tires screeching. She hit a button on the queen's driver.

 **"Yes, queen! _Weapon!_ "** a fracture opened, letting her catch the bladed bow midway. Quickly she aimed. She pulled back the handle, charging up an arrow. The bee monster let go of their bow string, firing a bright arrow that had an odd sphere on the end that began to go down at the crowd.

" _Please let my training pay off…!_ " Lori let go of her bow's handle. The energy arrow flew through the air, able to intercept and hit the enemy's arrow. The other arrow exploded on collision. A dozen small arrow heads flew everywhere, shattering windows and harmlessly clattering to the ground around the many civilians.

It was practically instant with how fast chaos erupted, people screaming and running away for cover, but the common fighter was happy to see no one hurt. She dreaded to imagine what would have happened if that attack had been permitted to go off.

" **You!** " they heard that angry voice. The giant anthropomorphic bug landed on the ground before them.

"A hornet? I thought I'd been chasing a bee this entire time," she got off her motorcycle, seeming to barely register his anger.

" _You…_ " the hornet looked to her. He could feel an aura of anger from her. "You're the one that tried to save our queen's life."

"I am," she rested her bladed bow om her shoulder, "Now what are you doing? Do you know how many people you could've hurt with that attack?!"

"I came to play my part in our plan to get Frenzy," the hornet countered. "We need to distract the other common fighters… Even if we do not know how many exist."

 _"Do you suppose he would follow your benevolence if we informed him that you are a queen as well?"_ Jundao's voice echoed in his contract holders mind. The first common fighter shook her head.

"Nope… I don't think they care about royalty right now," Lori got ready, and then spoke to the bow-wielding bee, "Sorry, but I can't let you live," she apologized. No point in letting him survive if he would cause nothing but problems, even she could not justify it.

"And you think you can take me?" the hornet taunted, "My queen trained us to be the rulers of the air!"

Lori nodded to that, and then swiftly fired a sudden energy arrow which pierced right through the bee's wings, stunning it momentarily and cutting its flight capabilities down partially. "I've been training a lot myself! Now to put it to the test!" Lori charged toward the eventually battle-ready monster.

The twos bows clashed, one holder trying to push back the other. Lori took the chance to grab her bow's handle to fire another quick energy arrow, managing to damage one of the bug's wings again. The hornet growled, swinging an open claw at her.

Lori took the hit to her arm, kicking the monster in the stomach and knocking him back. The Common Fighter jumped toward him, swinging overhead, only for him to dart out of the way before shooting her in the side with an arrow, extracting smoke from her armored body from the impact site.

"I guess clipping his wings didn't slow him down too much…!" Lori pulled the arrow out and tossed it aside before she charged for her enemy once more.

"We do appreciate that you tried to save our queen," the hornet growled while not slowing his movements down, "We really do… But it seems you Common Fighters are clearly out for nothing but your own selfish interests," he attacked again, swinging his weapon at her only for her to duck under it.

Lori swung wide in retaliation, a blue streak of light following behind her bladed bow's movement. Her opponent jumped over and kicked her in the head, knocking her back onto the ground much to her irritation.

 _"We need a different strategy,"_ Jundao told his contract holder as the hornet flew backwards into the air, pulling his bow string and beginning to charge up another bombardment of arrow heads.

"But what?! I'm not that fast…!" Lori suddenly had an idea hit her. Jewel threw herself out of the way to dodge the arrow rain that exploded midair and tore apart the concrete beneath where they stood a moment ago.

"You can't run forever!" the hornet kept firing one burst arrow after another. However, in one of her dodges, Lori spun on her heels and quickly fired an energy arrow in retaliation, managing to hit the monster right in one of his eyes. Blue colored blood gushed from the wound. "Grah! My eye!"

"Now's my chance!" Lori ran back to her motorcycle, quickly mounting it. She kept her weapon tight in her grip as she wrapped her free hand around the throttle and revved the engine.

The hornet monster panted. Jewel was driving right for him. He had no chance to dodge. Jewel swung wide as she passed by, hitting his side. Sparks blasted from his body, the impact strong enough to almost knock him over.

 _"Well…"_ Jundao breathed, _"I imagine a queen would normally ride a horse into battle… But I suppose this works equally as well."_

"I've been practicing a lot more than just my aim this week!" Lori said, just glad the people had cleared the roads after escaping the scene. She turned her bike around and accelerated at full speed toward the hornet.

"You humans… You are all much too greedy for your own good…" the hornet tried to tolerate the pain. He pulled back the bow string, charging up another burst arrow. However, before he could fire, Lori took her hand off the steering handles before aiming her bladed bow as well.

"I'm ending this!" Jewel fired an arrow that pierced his charged attack, causing it to detonate at point blank range. The small explosion sent out a volley of arrow heads, cutting the hornet all over his body. It was able to break his bow instantly as well.

" _This…_ can't be!" he gasped, falling onto one knee.

 _"Now! Finish it, my queen!"_ Jundao ordered. He wished he could help. Sadly, his speed was too little to be of any use. Lori put her bladed bow onto her back before she hit each button on her driver and spun the dial.

 **"Yes, queen! _Finisher!_ "** Jewel's right leg began to swell with energy as she raced toward the monster. The hornet could not escape. Its wings were too tattered and torn from all the damage he had taken during the battle.

"Now!" Lori, as soon as she was near him, jumped off her motorcycle, toward the large bug, extending her right leg forward and delivering a devastating kick directly to his chest.

 ** _"Alllllllllllllriiiiight!"_** the queen's driver called out as an explosion of blue energy from her boot blasted the hornet backwards down the road, causing his body to scrape against the ground as he skidded across the hard asphalt, parts of his body falling off like the bug he was along the way.

" _Whew…_ " Lori let out a relieved sigh as she stuck the landing somehow. She began to approach the monster as he laid there, beginning to slowly turn to dust.

"My… job here is done now…" the hornet coughed, watching as Jewel took her queen driver off, transforming back to normal and catching the crystal ball in her hand.

"You were willing to hurt so many people, just so you could distract all the Common Fighters and focus on Frenzy?" Lori went down on one knee beside the dying bug, who once had been so loyal to his own queen.

"Y… _Yes…_ " the hornet gasped. "That was our plan… for revenge."

Lori shook her head. "One of you said that you just wanted to live in peace. You think your queen would've been happy with any of this?" the oldest Loud questioned. She swore she could see the hornet's only non-damaged eye shedding a tear.

" _No…_ She'd disown every last one of us for even considering it…" he faded away, leaving nothing but a pile of dust behind, with a glowing red core crystal fragment sticking out of it.

 _"It's always sad to see those that do not lose their minds succumb to their emotions,"_ Jundao commented. His contract holder picked up the core crystal shard, staring at it in her palm briefly before slipping it into her pocket.

"At least Lisa now has one she can analyze," Lori began to return to her motorcycle as it laid overturned. "I just hope Frenzy can handle the other two on his own. Especially if they're as hungry for revenge as that one said," Lori told Jundao. She wanted to get home now to get back to training immediately. She was glad to have prevented any major injuries from being inflicted on the townsfolk.

 _ **"Looks like my training is already paying off... I just hope this fragment will help Lisa somehow."**_


	20. The White Haired King

_**Authors note: Sorry for the wait all, a lot has happened since this year started but it's now started calming down so hopefully I can get back to writing as usual. Sorry for that, please review and enjoy.**_

* * *

Lori was on her way back home, riding on her motorcycle. That more populated part of town was safe from the bee monster now, thankfully with no casualties as far as they could tell.

 _"It seems your training is paying off quite well,"_ Jundao stated to his contract holder. She had achieved finishing off an enemy without his help. Their opponent wasn't too tough anyhow.

"I do feel sore, but it sure beats yoga," Lori joked, starting to pull back up to her home. The garage was open for her to simply ride her motorcycle inside. After parking, she turned off the engine and made to undo the buckle of her helmet.

"Welcome back, Lori," Lisa greeted her practical second mother, seeming happy to see her back in quite quick time.

"Thanks Lisa. By the way, I brought you something," Lori pulled out the core crystal fragment from her pocket and handed it over to the child prodigy. The child's eyes seemed to glow upon setting sight at its bright red splendor.

"Finally, I can examine a core fragment… thank you, Lori. I am grateful to you for not forgetting my request," Lisa went over to her workbench to get working on it right away.

"It was nothing… Bad news though. The bee I had to fight was just playing distraction," Common Fighter Jewel came over. She wondered where their mother was at the moment. She expected Rita to have been waiting for her return rather impatiently, to continue their discussion from earlier.

"Distraction? For what purpose?" Lisa put the core fragment into a small sample tray before sliding it under a microscope to begin examining it.

"He was supposed to draw out all the common fighters by attacking crowded places while the others go after Frenzy… They didn't know how many of us there were," Lori explained. She wondered if she had to go hunting down the other two monsters now, but she had no clue where to even begin in that case.

"And I take it from your tone that you're still uncertain as to whether view Frenzy as ally or enemy," the child genius replied with a raised eyebrow, not taking her eyes off the examination of the crystal, but Lisa never had any trouble multitasking.

" _Yeah…_ I can't tell what's worse. The fact that the other common fighters seem out for only themselves, or that one of them broke into our house just to steal the sealed drivers," Lori exclaimed. She had no clue how they knew nor what motivated them. But nonetheless she was hoping to be able to talk to Frenzy one day in a non-transformed environment.

"I still cannot find any logic nor reason behind how they'd acquire the information of the driver's location to begin with… I fear a third party may be involved," the young scientist confessed her fears. Lori rubbed the young girls back trying to comfort her, more than aware and sharing that feeling of worry about having an unknown presence involved in this giant mess.

"Don't worry. We'll find who did it. Hopefully nothing will happen before Luna's concert at least," Lori stated. There was their sister's first onstage performance with Sam to look forward to after all, she hoped that monsters would lay low for a couple of days, she knew that was a very unlikely thing to happen sadly.

"Let me know if Frenzy or those other monsters pop up, please," the young woman requested.

"Affirmative. I'll keep an eye out on the reports," Lisa nodded. Lori left to go try and relax before she would get back to training.

* * *

"Hey, Pelacur! Where are you," Sam called out, wandering through her home. She had not seen him since she woke up from her nap. She was exhausted from all the practice she had been doing with Luna these last couple of days.

She heard a small shuffling noise. A box plonking onto the floor from near it sounded like. She went to the partially open door to the basement, becoming partially unnerved or an unknown reason.

"Pelacur?" the drummer called out through the door. She began to make her way down the steps. The sound of the creaking wood echoed out. One of the steps was broken, like too much weight had been put on it. She just avoided it.

" _Dude…_ " Sam gulped worriedly. She turned on the light. The gargoyle was there, laying against the wall, having knocked off one of the boxes with his tail by accident.

" _Akrea-caso…_ " Pelacur weakly coughed. Sam ran right over to him.

"Hey! Pelacur, are you okay?!" she asked. The gargoyle replied with gargled gibberish. "Oh no…" she saw the crystals on his back. They had grown up to his nape and hunched section of his back. Sam was nervous. She wanted to try to feel part of the crystal to try and break part of it off in some hope that it would help somehow.

 **"NO!"** Pelacur screamed, suddenly jolting to his feet and knocking Sam down to the floor on her side.

"Hrk! My arm…" she groaned, holding her right arm in pain. Pelacur stood with his back against the wall, panting. Sam watched as her monstrous friend slowly slid onto the floor again like he was fighting himself for control.

"Pelacur…" Sam realized why he had reacted the way. He had she remembered Loris words about being infected by the crystals being lethal. The young drummer did not know what to do. She got out her cellphone and dialed Lori's number. "Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up…" she waited. And she felt relieved when she heard her answer. "Hello?! Lori! I need your help with Pelacur!"

* * *

Here Lincoln was, at a medium sized home, where the party that Lynn invited him to was taking place.

Things were going very weirdly. He stayed away from the main part of the party, wishing to be alone. "I still can't put my finger on what's wrong. I feel like I should be a hundred miles from here," Lincoln murmured. So much of his recent memories got consumed that there was no chance for him to remember when, why or how he agreed to come here. He could not recognize anyone here either, he knew one thing for certain, being here felt very wrong for some reason.

 _ **"Hey, at least you look fancy!"**_ Lizzy's voice rang out in his head.

"What can I say? I like having any excuse to wear a tux other than a funeral," Lincoln looked over the large group of strangers here. They seemed welcoming, but at the same time someone here was making him very insecure. " _I wish Ronnie Anne could be here,"_ he rubbed his slightly throbbing head. He missed his girlfriend. Long distance relationships were far more depressingly stressful than he ever anticipated them to be.

"Hey! Sorry for the wait," Lynn returned from the crowd, carrying two plastic cups full of soda. She handed her only brother one of the cups.

"Thanks. I was about to try and find you," Lincoln replied. She had taken so long to get a few drinks.

"I had to find something not opened yet. They've spiked everything with booze I swear," Lynn stated. She did not expect this to be that kind of party. Then again she did not know what she expected when she stole the invitation to this from the trash.

 ** _"I want some of the other drinks, daddy,"_** Lizzy's voice giggled in his head.

" _Not now, honey…!_ " the bucktoothed teenager hushed under his breath.

"What was that?" Lynn quirked an eyebrow, regaining her slightly younger brother's attention.

" _N-_ nothing! I was just saying, thanks for inviting me to come along. It's nice to relax for a change," Lincoln lied. He still could not figure out why his senses made his body feel so paranoid around her.

"I'm happy I got you to agree. I'm sorry for how forceful I was about wanting you to come. I just didn't want to look like a lone loser here," she struggled to confess, finding it hard to keep eye contact with her brother. Her eyes stayed locked at the cup of soda in her hands. "I'm sorry about all I said during those fights we had…"

"We had fights…?" Lincoln chirped, very confused. Lynn was made confused too by his parroting.

"You don't remember? _Jeez…_ How hard did you hit your head when you fell?" she didn't know to be happy or not about that concussion happening now. She wondered if it meant he had no memory of her confession to him either.

Lincoln suddenly gasped, dropping his cup on the ground. He began holding his head as it began to ache. His skull felt like it was about to be torn in two. He stumbled and began to fall to the ground.

" **Lincoln?!** " Lynn caught him, "What's wrong?!"

" _I-_ I don't know…!" he tried to resist the pain, unsure if this was Lizzy's doing. Blood started to seep out his nose.

 _ **"I know this is a bad time dad, but I think we have a problem,"**_ the monster he had a contract with stated. And only moments after her words echoed in his head they felt the whole home rumble.

"What was that?" Lynn fearfully spoke. Lincoln bared the pain long enough to grab her and force her down to the floor, causing her to fall on top of him.

They heard the shattering explosions. Many people screamed as one after another, the windows were busted by an odd bright flash with something flying through them to either impale a random unfortunate person or embed itself into the ground.

"Are those knives?!" Lynn wondered if someone had lost their mind and was attacking the party at first, but it made no sense to her.

"We have to get out of here…" Lincoln coughed, the pain dying down in his head slightly as he forced himself back onto his feet with his sister's help.

 _ **"Wait! Daddy, those are crystal fragments we need! We can't run away!"**_ Lizzy objected while whining. Lincoln paid not a second of attention to her though. He quickly made for the back door through the kitchen.

"Lincoln, what's going on?! It's not safe out here!" Lynn tried to stop him, insisting that they would be safer inside. Even with her black belts and degrees in various fighting styles she did not feel comfortable trying to fight a presumed knife maniac running around out here.

"It's not a crazy person running around! _It's…_ " he felt a sharp pain shoot through his leg. He looked down to see a dagger sticking out from the side of his left leg. And on the spot, he collapsed onto one leg.

"Lincoln! Oh my god!" Lynn gasped. It was that moment that she saw the two large bug monsters land in front of them.

"Frenzy… So, this is what you look like under the mask," the wasp chuckled. It gripped one of its two daggers tightly, throwing them around with no hesitation.

"Is this a joke? The same heartless monster who murdered our queen is a mere child?!" the gauntlet wielding killer bee found this hard to believe.

" _I can't understand them…"_ Lynn whimpered to her ears. To her, it was just random gibberish. But Lincoln understood it clear.

 _ **"Daddy, what are you waiting for? You have to transform if you want to beat them,"**_ Lizzy reminded her contract holder. The young monster foresaw this attack, but she was shocked by how full out assault these two were.

" _But Lynn's right there…! If I reveal it to her…_ " Lincoln stammered back. The wasp suddenly lunged forward, thrusting one of the daggers at them. Lincoln shoved Lynn aside before dodging himself. He groaned, his leg throbbing in agony from where the dagger dug into him. The oversized killer bee was able to deliver a strong blow to his stomach when he tried to get up with its spiked gauntlets, hard enough to push the human onto his back across the ground.

"Lincoln!" Lynn ran up and jumped on the anthropomorphic wasp's back.

"Geatu olf! Seranka cand!" It growled, trying to shake her off of his back, but unable to reach her. She kept hitting him in the back of his head.

"Maltove!" the killer bee stepped to deliver a harsh blow to Lynn's right side, knocking her off his comrade. She had grabbing one of the wasp's many wings though and ended up tearing it off as she fell to the ground.

"My arm!" Lynn held her right arm. It seemed almost dented from the spikes on the gauntlets. She struck a nerve on the revenge hungry insects with her interference.

"I knew I had a bad feeling about tonight…!" Lincoln decided he could not play secretive. He removed the dagger from his leg, ignoring the pain while he could. "Hey, freaks! Catch!" he threw the knife. Sadly, his aim was off. He hit the killer bee by grazing its side, barely doing any harm. It still gained their attention. "You wanted Frenzy? I'll give you Frenzy!" Lincoln pulled out the king's driver, the belt and card holster dangling off its side. That flare in his eyes made the two monsters seem slightly afraid, though they clearly were pleased to have their confirmation that he was Common Fighter Frenzy.

Lincoln threw the belt of the king's driver around himself before catching it and reconnecting it again to the driver itself. **"Bow to your king,"** the driver spoke in a hollow, yet harsh voice. He reached for the card holster, opening and revealing a collection of mainly blank cards. He pulled out only one card. The ace card had a jester like shadow entity on the front. He slid it into the top of his driver. the front of the card showed in the small glass, displaying it to his enemies.

"Lincoln, what are you doing…?" Lynn just stared from where she lay as her brother grabbed the handle on the side of the king's driver. Its bright silver body seemed to shimmer under the few lights around them.

 _ **"Finally!"**_ Lizzy's voice eagerly rang in his head. The young boy tried to remain calm.

"You monsters have chosen to follow the same fate as your queen," Lincoln thrust the handle forward, watching it slide to the other side of the driver and scanning the card with the handle with a red light. The two monsters watched, a slight fear paralyzing them from seemingly nowhere.

They saw a fracture appear above Lincoln's head. Transparent cards fell through, hovering above his head. He pointed at the two bugs. That anger in his eyes was enough to keep them in place. An orange suit appeared around his body.

"Henshin," Lincoln hit the button on the handle of the king driver. The multiple cards began to fall on him, letting him pass through harmlessly. Each one that landed on him added a separate piece of armor onto him. With each card, he grew a centimeter, until he was as large as an adult once more. Once the last of the damaged armor was on, his cracked helmet appeared around his head.

 **"The Benevolent Berserker! _King!_ "** the driver called out. Common fighter Frenzy now stood before them. Lynn could only stare at her brother's secret form being revealed to them.

"Lincoln… You're a common fighter?!" she was unable to believe this. She could only spectate now. Her brother got into a fighting stance, glad to have a battle to distract him from his body's pain.

 _ **"Let's do this, daddy!"** _Lizzy hummed with glee. Her surrogate father reached down and hit two buttons on the front of the driver before hitting the button on the handle.

 **"Yes, king! _Weapon!_ "** the king driver called out as a second fracture opened up above him. The weapon fell from above, and the blade impaled itself into the ground.

Common Fighter Frenzy grabbed the sword and pulled it off the ground, like it was akin to the legendary Excalibur, he swung it wide once, before getting ready and gripping the blade with both hands. _ **"Now, let me show you what happens when you harm a king's family!"**_


End file.
